Situation

The client are a husband and wife team from Melbourne. Together, they started their own business in the plumbing industry. 

In 2018, the business-owner began suffering from severe pain on the right side of his body which impacted his day-to-day work productivity. Shortly after, he had his first surgery for the pain in his arm and was forced to take a significant time off of work.  

The day he returned to work, he was in a traumatic accident where he was rear-ended by a speeding truck. During the accident the seatbelt failed, resulting in severe damaged to his shoulder which forced our client out of work for a further 3 months. This, coupled with costs associated with his medical treatments and additional salary payments for extra staff, severely compromised the Company’s cash flow, leaving him drowning in tax debt. 

These extenuating circumstances crippled their business, and the losses they had suffered as a result were substantial enough to severely impact the survival of the Company. Feeling helpless, they turned to their accountant to lodge an application for a remission of General Interest Charges. This was quickly refused by the ATO leaving the client feeling hopeless about the future as the tax debt continued to grow. 

Strategy

The client contacted TDSA and we conducted an analysis on the their account and found that there tax debt comprised of $200,000 of General Interest Charges (“GIC”). 

TDSA reviewed the previous remission application and found it lacking in detailed information we know the ATO require. 

We met with the husband and wife and learned about their circumstances in much more detail. We prepared a comprehensive and evidence supported application for a remission of the GIC with other information that was missing from the first application lodged by the Accountant.

Whilst in negotiation, the client payed off their primary debt leaving their tax debt to be comprised of only GIC. We spent months over the phone negotiating with the ATO and advocating for the clients.

Success