Situations we sort out
The debt is workable. The silence is not.
Whether the bill has arrived or is still forming, the path is the same: confirm the real number, propose what your cash flow can keep, and stay current while it runs. We manage each step with the ATO.
Tax debts rarely arrive out of nowhere. A hard year, a BAS that could not be paid, a return lodged late with a balance owing — and then letters that are easier not to open. Every unopened letter narrows the options, because the ATO reads silence as unwillingness rather than difficulty. The debt itself is usually manageable. The silence around it is what does the damage.
The work starts with the real number. As your registered tax agent we confirm what the ATO's records show — the debt, any interest accruing on it, and any lodgments still missing — because a plan built on a guess fails at the first surprise. Then we build a proposal from your actual cash flow: what can genuinely be paid, over what period, with the reasoning documented.
An optimistic plan feels better on the day it is proposed and worse every fortnight after. We would rather propose a defensible figure and see it kept, because a defaulted arrangement damages the very credibility the next conversation needs. Where the circumstances give grounds, we also request remission of interest and penalties in writing — requested, documented, and followed up.
What we see with tax debts
- Letters unopened for months while interest quietly accrues in the background.
- Arrangements agreed under pressure, at figures that were never going to survive real life.
- A plan kept faithfully while new lodgments fall behind — one year fixed by losing the next.
- Debts feared in round numbers that nobody has actually confirmed with the ATO.
The way through
The debt, confirmed
With your authority we establish what the ATO's records actually show — the balance, what it is made of, and any lodgments still missing behind it.
Missing lodgments brought in
A proposal over an incomplete picture rarely survives. Outstanding returns are prepared and lodged so the number being arranged is the whole number.
A proposal built on cash flow
We work out what your income can genuinely sustain, document the basis, and put that figure forward rather than a hopeful one.
Remission where grounds exist
Illness, disaster, events outside your control — where the facts support it, remission of interest and penalties is requested in writing.
Letters answered
ATO correspondence runs through this office with your authority, so nothing sits unopened and nothing is answered without the file.
The plan kept alive
Future lodgments on time are part of the arrangement's survival — we keep you current, and if circumstances shift we go back to the ATO before the plan breaks.
A payment proposal from this office carries its evidence — the confirmed debt, the cash-flow basis and the grounds for any remission request — because that is what gives it a hearing. See our method →
Common questions
Will the ATO agree to a payment plan?
That decision is the ATO's, and we do not promise it. What we can say is that proposals are considered on their facts, and a proposal supported by lodged returns, a confirmed balance and a documented cash-flow basis is a serious submission rather than a plea. Our job is to give your circumstances their best presentation — in writing, through the proper channel.
I haven't lodged everything yet. Can a plan still be set up?
The debt has to be known before it can sensibly be arranged, and missing lodgments mean the number is still moving. In most cases the sequence is: confirm what is outstanding, lodge it, then propose. That order also matters later — keeping every future lodgment current is part of what keeps an arrangement standing.
Can the interest and penalties be wiped?
They can be remitted in some circumstances — that is a decision the ATO makes on the facts, not something anyone can promise you. Where your history and circumstances give grounds, we put the request in writing with the supporting evidence and keep the correspondence on file. Where the grounds are weak we say so, rather than selling you an application.
I already have a plan but I can't keep up with it.
Say so before it defaults, not after. Arrangements can be revisited when circumstances genuinely change, and a renegotiation carries more weight when it arrives with evidence — updated income, the events that changed, the payments already made. We prepare that case and put it to the ATO with your authority, while the existing plan is still standing.
What happens if I just keep ignoring the letters?
The position hardens. Interest generally continues to accrue, and the ATO holds firmer collection options that it tends to reach for when engagement is absent. None of that is said to frighten you — it is the reason acting now is cheaper than acting later. The same facts that look like a crisis in silence usually look like a payment plan once someone puts them forward properly.
My debt is from business activity — BAS and PAYG. Does that change the approach?
The method is the same — confirm, lodge, propose — but business debts bring extra moving parts: activity statements still falling due each cycle, and obligations the ATO treats with particular seriousness. The plan has to leave room for the tax the business will keep incurring, or it fails by design. We build proposals that fund the next quarter as well as the last one.
General information only — not tax, legal or financial advice. Advice specific to your circumstances is provided within a signed engagement.
Related reading
Speak to the person who signs the return.
Consultations are with a registered tax agent — by phone or video, wherever you are in Australia.