If you make less than $18200 per year, you don’t have to worry about paying taxes on your income. But if you make more than that, you are required to lodge tax return on time.
You are mandatorily required to lodge a tax return each year at the designated time of the financial year. But due to certain situations, if you fail to lodge a tax return at designated time, there can be some thinking to do because you can’t just not submit the tax. Below are some of the points to help you navigate such situations.
Just because you make less than threshold, you can’t keep quiet
Alright, the government has said that if you make less than $18200, you don’t have to lodge any tax returns. But, the ATO is not going to know about your income status if you don’t make the realize that. You need to submit a non-lodgment advice to ATO. After you do this, if you really don’t make the amount up to the threshold, you are exempted of tax returns.
Can one be fined for not paying the Tax-lodgment?
If you fail to lodge the tax returns by the time you are mandated to do so, there are consequences to pay. Firstly, the ATO will issue you Failure to Lodge penalty. Its value is $210 and normally could go as high as $1050 for an individual. Unless you are affected by serious illness or victim of natural calamities, you will have to pay the specified fine.
If you do not take any action the ATO may impose higher penalties and possible legal action.
What will happen if I lodge tax returns late?
Okay, you lodged the tax returns but you were late. You were fined but still you did not lodge the tax returns…What could happen in such situations? Technically, the authorities think you have no intention of lodging the tax. So, at such cases ATO is going to issue with assessments to make for failure to comply with the established law. You can appeal to pay just the default assessment but you must show what your tax liability is to the ATO.
Can somebody be prosecuted for not lodging tax return?
Definitely. If you are living in a state and using facilities and such it’s your responsibility to submit the taxes. If you don’t do so, you will have to pay penalty. If you don’t lodge the taxes despite penalties and tax returns on your part is just piling up, the authorities have no other thing to consider but that you have no intention of complying with the law.
At such extreme cases, there is a possibility of prosecution. One can be fined for $8500 and imprisoned up to 12 months if you don’t pay your taxes. But let’s hope it will never come to that. If you plan your financial life and give it a little more thought, this situation can be avoided easily.
What if I get audited by ATO?
Relax! No one’s going to audit you just for no reason. It takes time and resources to audit someone and unless you fail to comply with the mandated regulations it will not come to “being audited.” However, if you haven’t lodged your tax returns and there are dues, and you haven’t acted on warnings and notices from ATO then definitely, you are going to be audited. If you re guilty at the time of audition, there are provisions mentioned by the law you will have to go through.
What if I haven’t lodged my tax return?
If you are thinking, “Oh! Enough about all these stuffs, I haven’t lodged my tax return and I don’t want to defy laws. What should I do now?” . You will have no other way but to catch up with unpaid taxes and late assessments. . Accurate Business & Accounting Services can help you catch up with non lodged and unpaid tax returns.