Director Penalty Notices (DPN)
For those of you that are a director of a company which owes money to the Australian Tax Office ( ATO ) in the form of PAYG WHT or GST it is very possible that you as the director could be personally liable for the PAYG WHT or GST if the ATO has issued a DPN.
Can I avoid liability under a Director Penalty Notice by claiming I did not receive it?
Unlikely. There have been court cases where directors claimed they did not receive the DPN. The Courts accepted the ATO evidence that the ATO had sent the DPNs to the correct address. If a director has moved address, and failed to update their addresses with the ATO, then that is a problem for the director rather than the ATO. Further, the ATO can serve a DPN on a director by sending the DPN to the company’s tax agent’s address.
For further information on ATO DPNs please click the link below.