Extended liability for Directors’ superannuation reporting obligations (DPNs)

On the 1st of March 2019, the Treasury Laws Amendment (2018 Measures No. 4) Bill 2018 received Royal Assent. On the 1st of April 2019, this Bill came into effect, which changed directors’ superannuation reporting obligations. If you are a company director, you need to know about these changes.

Here is a summary of the Director Penalty Notice (DPN) regime before the 1st of April 2019.

Company directors were held personally liable if they failed to report on PAYG withholding and superannuation amounts payable by the company.

Directors would be issued with a non-lockdown DPN if they had lodged a return within three months of the due date, but had not paid the PAYG and superannuation amounts.

Otherwise, directors would be issued with a lockdown DPN if they had not lodged a return within three months of the due date, and also did not pay the PAYG and superannuation amounts.

After the 1st of April 2019, the amendment extends the liabilities associated with the Superannuation aspect of the DPN regime. This new law eliminated the three (3) month from due date rule for superannuation reporting.

This means that superannuation amounts must now be reported by their due date, i.e. within 28 days of the end of each quarter.

It is important to note that this law does not affect PAYG reporting. The three-month from due date rule remains unchanged.

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