Hi all,
Recently I've been asked to pay back the ATO for taxes from last FY. As I am unemployed at the moment, anyone know if I can request for a payment extension? If so, what is the longest I can get. The government is pretty slow, it's already been 1 month late due, but no one has chased it up with me yet.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers
Call the ATO - they have 24 month interest-free payment plans.
free set of steak knives with that?
Doubt the government would give out knives to people who are behind in their debts :)
Only if you don't arrange a payment plan with them and they have to chase you for the money. As noted below GIC is automatically applied (mind you back when I was an accountant I always managed to have all GIC reversed for my clients with minimal effort/begging). ATO has payment plans you can get placed on which give you maximum 24 months interest free (payment plans longer than 24 months exist but incur interest). But you need to proactive and get onto the plan before they come chasing you.
Damn.. I just paid my 4k tax.. thinking there would be interest.
Call them. There is interest on debt, but it can be waived under certain conditions. Best for you to initiate contact to get the best outcome. By the time they chase, they are less lenient.
If your late with payment I believe the GIC annual rate is automatically applied and when they do chase it up its normally also inclusive of penalties/late fees. Give the ATO a call ASAP!
Careful mate, sometimes they will send a lawyer to serve you with a notice… I had many clients during my time at an Accounting Firm and damn, I don't know how many notices I received in that time.
We then had to renegotiate the terms… In most cases, they just wound up the companies involved and forced people into bankruptcy…
Hi everyone, thanks for your comments. I called them, and was able to arrange a payment plan for 1 year, to pay on a monthly basis. The only thing is that I was told maybe I will be charged interest on the outstanding amount if I pay monthly, but they are not sure if that will be the case until the final payment (or something along those lines, it was a bit unclear).
Does anyone know if interest is charged or has had similar experience?
Why don't you call ATO to discuss your options?