Useful links
- Duties Act 2001
- First Home Owner Grant Act 2000
- Land Tax Act 2010
- Mineral Resources Act 1989
- Payroll Tax Act 1971
- Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Act 2004
- Taxation Administration Act 2001
- Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel
- Australian Taxation Office
- NSW Office of State Revenue
- Vic. State Revenue Office
- WA Office of State Revenue
- RevenueSA
- Tas. State Revenue Office
- ACT Revenue Office
- NT Revenue Office
- Commonwealth of Australian Law
- Australasian Legal Information Institute
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Where any tax is not paid, tax administration laws can impose:
- interest
- penalty tax.
Some activities are offences and have their own specific penalties.
Unpaid tax interest (UTI)
If tax is not paid by its due date or delayed because of a failure to lodge documents, interest will accrue until the entire tax and interest is paid in full.
If UTI has already accrued at the time the assessment is made, the assessment notice will include the full amount of UTI (calculated on a daily basis) that applied at the date the assessment issued. After an assessment notice has issued, UTI will be calculated and applied each Sunday until the entire tax and interest is paid in full.
The rate of UTI is 13% for the 2011–2012 financial year.
UTI begins to accrue after the tax is due. The UTI start date will depend on the type of assessment and when the assessment is made.
| Circumstances | UTI start date (generally) |
| Information or lodgement requirement not complied with | We deduct the number of days of non-compliance from the due date of the assessment we send you |
| Reassessment | UTI start date for the original assessment on the difference (or the whole amount, if none of it was originally paid) |
| Other | Day after assessment due date |
Section 54(4) of the Taxation Administration Act 2001 outlines the exact method of calculating the UTI start date.
If you have outstanding tax and are accruing UTI, any payments you make will go towards the UTI first.
You can use the UTI calculators on our website to work out how much UTI you owe. You must include any UTI when you pay your tax.
In exceptional circumstances, we may reduce or waive all of the UTI.
See Public Ruling TAA060.1—Remission of unpaid tax interest for more information.
Penalty tax
Penalty tax will be charged in certain circumstances. These circumstances might include a taxpayer avoiding tax by failing to:
- register for tax
- lodge required documents
- notify us of changed circumstances.
Penalty tax is 75% of the outstanding tax amount. This can increase if the taxpayer:
- hinders or prevents us from learning about their tax liability
- fails to notify us that an assessment was lower than it should have been.
Any partial payments will first be used for penalty tax before being applied to the original amount.
In special circumstances, we may decide to reduce the penalty tax.
To find out more about penalty tax, see Public Ruling:
Offences
Tax administration laws specify maximum penalties for tax offences. These include:
- failure to comply with a notification or lodgement requirement
- knowingly providing false or misleading documents
- obstructing the Commissioner or investigators.