Do you have a ATO Debt?
If you do have a ATO debt, now is a great time to negotiate a repayment plan over this debt.
Why?
Firstly, the ATO is currently willing to agree to some long repayment plans. Recently, I heard of a payment plan extending for over 4 years. This allows you to spread your repayments over an extended time frame. If you leave this too long, these longer time frames may not be available.
Secondly, the ATO is usually the biggest creditor of a small business. Having a written repayment plan with the ATO reduces the risk you could be trading insolvent on 1 January 2021, when the temporary insolvent trading protection expires.
Thirdly, compliance with a written repayment plan with the ATO, usually means that the ATO will not take action against the company or the directors to recover the debt.
What should you do before you enter into a repayment plan over your ATO Debt?
Clearly, the best outcome is for the business to meet its payment obligations under the repayment plan.
So, before you agree to a repayment plan over your ATO debt, you need to understand what you can afford to pay over what time frame. And the only way to do this is by having a cashflow forecast.
Without a cashflow forecast you are flying blind and may have set yourself up for continued breaches of the repayment plan. And these breaches may result the ATO taking recovery action against the company or against the directors personally by issuing a director penalty notice.
This director penalty notice may mean, you, as a director are now personally responsible for the debts of the business. And it gets worse. The ATO has no obligation to recover money under a director penalty notice evenly across all directors. For example, if there are four directors of a company that owes the ATO $100,000. Three rent and the other owns a house. The ATO can chase the director who owns the house and attempt to recover all of the $100,000 from them and nothing from the other directors.
How can I help you with your cashflow forecast and the potential ATO debt repayment plan?
I have developed, reviewed and updated thousands of cash flow forecasts over the past 20 years. This has included cashflow forecasts that allowed businesses to successfully meet extended payment plans to the ATO from tax debts incurred during the GFC.
I am happy to spend an hour of my time at no cost to you, to learn more about your business and its current circumstances. From this I can give you a fixed price quote to develop or review a cash flow forecast and the associated potential ATO repayment plan.
If you want to take up this offer, just contact me below.
Contact Wayne Wanders for your FREE Business Survival Session
At the end of this session, you will have multiple ideas on how your business can survive and thrive in these uncertain times.
Simply fill in the contact form below or email me at wayne@aRealCFO.com.au or call me on 0412 227 052 to organise one of these obligation free sessions.
Wayne Wanders, A Real CFO
wayne@aRealCFO.com.au