The Australian Taxation Office has updated its lodgment practice statement to formally recognise domestic violence, financial coercion, and serious mental health challenges as grounds for filing deferrals — a significant shift that acknowledges vulnerability as a legitimate barrier to tax compliance. 

RF Report

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) on 16 April updated Practice Statement PS LA 2011/15, which outlines tax filing obligations, due dates, and deferral provisions.

The revision expands the list of exceptional or unforeseen circumstances under which a filing deferral may be granted, now explicitly including situations of vulnerability such as domestic violence, financial coercion, and serious mental health challenges, where these factors reasonably prevent timely filing.

Practice Statement PS LA 2011/15

This Practice Statement provides guidance on:

  • lodgment obligations, including supporting voluntary lodgment compliance
  • lodgment due dates and how these dates are determined
  • deferring lodgment.

What this Practice Statement is about

This Practice Statement sets out:

  • lodgment obligations
  • lodgment due dates
  • suspension of lodgment enforcement
  • lodgment deferrals.

Lodgment obligations

An entity or their representative must provide to us the information required in the approved form or prescribed form by the lodgment due date by lodging:

  • a return
  • a notice
  • a statement
  • an application
  • a report, or
  • other documents.

Lodgment due dates

A due date is the date that lodgment of a document is due to be received by the ATO.

Approved and prescribed forms are due for lodgment by due dates specified in a legislative instrument or provided in legislation (statutory due dates), within prescribed periods or as we require.

Entities or their representatives are required to lodge documents by the due date, whether or not any related liability is paid or payable.

Generally, only one lodgment of a document per period is required. However, an entity may be required to lodge:

  • further or fuller returns for a period
  • a different document for different liabilities within one period
  • a further Public country-by-country (Public CBC) report for a reporting period to correct a material error.

If the lodgment due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, lodgment may be made on the first business day after the due date without incurring a failure to lodge (FTL) penalty. A public holiday refers to a day that is a public holiday for the whole of any state, the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory. Lodgment due dates, including the lodgment program, can be found on ato.gov.au.

Enforcing overdue lodgment

The action we may take for entities that fail to meet their lodgment obligations differs depending on their particular circumstances. Prior to taking action, we consider the reasons for non-lodgment, compliance history, the entity’s knowledge of tax and superannuation laws and other relevant circumstances of that entity.

Possible action that can be taken includes:

  • ensuring the entity is aware of the obligation to lodge by the due date
  • advising the entity of the consequences of non-lodgment or late lodgment
  • contacting the entity or their representative via phone or in writing (in some instances, lodgment of activity statements may be completed over the phone to quickly finalise compliance action)
  • applying an FTL penalty or other administrative penalty
  • issuing an assessment or default assessment, making estimates, or bringing tax-related liabilities to account, or a combination of these
  • referring the matter for prosecution.

All communication, actions and decisions must be consistent with ATO Charter and Chief Executive Instruction Respecting taxpayers’ rights of review (link available internally only). Therefore, information to be communicated to entities must include:

  • what periods are outstanding and how they can lodge
  • the consequences of not lodging
  • any rights of review.

Any personal information collected via lodgment must comply with the Privacy Act 1988 and the requirements of the Australian Privacy Principles, in particular the Privacy (Tax File Number) Rule 2015.

Not pursuing overdue lodgment

In limited circumstances, we may consider it appropriate to not pursue overdue lodgment of a document. Examples of these circumstances may include situations where:

  • there is little risk to revenue
  • the value of information to be provided is minimal and follow-up action would not be cost-effective.

The decision not to pursue overdue lodgment may be reviewed at any time and it does not depend on receiving new information. Not pursuing overdue lodgment of a document does not remove the entity’s obligation to lodge that document, now or in the future. In general, we do not advise the entity if a decision is made not to pursue lodgment.

Suspension of lodgment enforcement action

A suspension is not a deferral or extension of time to lodge. We may agree to suspend lodgment enforcement action by not undertaking compliance action on a specific overdue lodgment or lodgments for a period of time.

Such a decision may arise:

  • from an express request from the entity or the entity’s representative for enforcement action to be suspended
  • because the reasons given in a deferral request are not sufficient to allow the deferral.

Where lodgment enforcement action is suspended, an FTL penalty or other administrative penalty may be applied and calculated from the original due date. Where suspension of lodgment enforcement action applies, payment is still required by the due date with the general interest charge (GIC) applying to any late payment.

A request to suspend lodgment enforcement action after the issue of a final notice for lodgment of certain documents, such as income tax returns, is not generally granted. This is because potential prosecution action may be compromised.