Failure to lodge penalty amnesty might not spare business leaders from ATO’s ‘lockdown’ director penalty notices

Small business directors who confess their late tax statements under the failure to lodge penalty amnesty program may not be spared from other Australian Taxation Office crackdowns, including the use of ‘lockdown’ director penalty notices, a leading restructuring expert has warned.

Announced in the 2023-2024 federal budget, the new Australian Taxation Office (ATO) amnesty allows small businesses to come forward with tax forms originally due between 1 December 2019 and 28 February 2022 without drawing costly failure to lodge (FTL) penalties.

More than 7,200 small businesses have now confessed income tax returns, business activity statements (BAS), and fringe benefits tax returns which were originally due in the relevant time period, the ATO says.