ATO Gets Tough On Late Filers

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

01 October 2002

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) announced at the weekend that for the first time this year, it intends to levy hefty fines on individual taxpayers who are late filing their returns - whether or not they are owed a refund.

The tax agency explained on Sunday that it has been reasonably lenient with regard to the imposition of penalties on those filing late returns since the new, tougher rules were introduced two years ago. Now, however, the ATO is 'toughening up' according to a spokesman.

'This time, if we have to chase people to lodge their tax return after October 31 or they have more than one outstanding tax return owing, then there's a good chance they'll be fined - even if it turns out that we owe them money,' he told news.com.au . 'This is a bit different from the past couple of years where, if you were owed a refund - full stop - then we didn't fine you.'

The penalties for filing late, having more than one outstanding return, having a poor history of filing tax returns, and/or ignoring an request to lodge a return can reach a maximum of $550, plus 11.89% interest on tax owing which hasn't been paid by the due date, the ATO has announced.

Speaking at the weekend, Australian Tax Institute director, Michael Dirkis condemned this 'big stick' approach, explaining to news.com.au that: 'We've always thought that the level of interest charged is ridiculous, because it's double what people pay for a mortgage.'

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