The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) are reviewing their approach to penalties and will potentially “let off” first-time inaccurate tax returns from individuals and businesses.
The ATO announced that it would not receive an automatic penalty, meaning inadvertent mistakes are able to be overlooked.
According to H&R Block, under the current regime many businesses and individuals make accidental mistakes.
While the ATO is set to be more lenient on time penalties, there will still be a penalty for dishonesty.
“The ATO will no longer automatically impose a penalty on individuals and small businesses who lodge their income tax return of BAS [business activity statement] late,” H&R Block said.
“After a defined period of time — say three or four years — the clock will be reset and taxpayers will get ‘one chance’ again.”
