Q. Show Recent developments in mitigating phoenix activity?
Since these previous works, there have been significant developments in mitigating phoenix activity.
Following Treasury's 2009 proposal paper the government committed to a range of measures to mitigate the incidence of phoenix activity. In July of 2011 draft legislation was released which amended tax law in order to:
- expand the director penalty regime to superannuation guarantee amounts
- enable the ATO to commence recovery of a director penalty without providing a 21 day grace period where the company's unreported PAYGW and/or superannuation guarantee debt is over three months old restricting access to Pay As You Go (PAYG) withholding credits for company directors and their associates where the company has failed to pay withheld amounts to the Commissioner.
Further legislation was introduced into Parliament on 13 October 2011. The Corporations Amendment (Phoenixing and Other Measures) Act 2012 received Royal Assent on 26 May 2012. This Act amends the Corporations Act to provide ASIC the administrative power to wind up companies that have been abandoned (i.e. those no longer trading but have not liquidated). This is intended to assist employees with outstanding employment entitlements to access GEERS.