Michael George Fotios, the director of private resource company Delta Resource Management Pty Ltd, was convicted and fined $37,500 for failing to lodge five activity statements from 1 January 2016 to 31 March 2017.
He was also convicted of failing to provide information and documents to the ATO as required by notice. He was fined $7,000 on each of the two charges relating to this failure.
In total, Mr Fotios was fined a total of $51,500 across all seven charges in the Perth Magistrates Court after the magistrate considered his plea, financial circumstances, lodgement of relevant returns and compliance with the information-gathering notice.
The magistrate said due to the history of non-compliance and the seriousness of the offences, imprisonment was seriously considered as a sentencing option; however, the appropriate penalty was applied.
He described Mr Fotios’ non-lodgement and non-compliance as “contemptuous”.
With new laws introduced to deny an income tax deduction for certain payments if the associated withholding obligations have not been complied with, the on-time lodgement of BAS has been highlighted.
“The on-time lodgement of BAS is now even more important than ever, because a failure to lodge the BAS on time may result in a business permanently losing its tax deduction for wages paid,” BDO partner Mark Molesworth said previously.
