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Topic
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Our Executive Committee recently received a notice from the ATO informing us that one of our previous strata managers had failed to lodge 2 Business Activity Statements and our previous year’s income tax return. As a result, the scheme has been hit with a $850 “failure to lodge” penalty and a stern letter threatening an ATO audit.
It also appears from the extract of our scheme’s ATO Running Balance Account provided by our current strata manager that that same previous strata manager had been lodging our BAS late, and we had been incurring general interest charge as a result.
Luckily we have a couple Committee members who work as tax professionals/lawyers who can step in to explain our case and negotiate with the ATO for remission of penalties and interest charged.
However, our main concern is whether we have any recourse against our previous strata manager if we can’t get these penalties/interest remitted (e.g. a complaint to Fair Trading?) Surely failiing to lodge a strata plan’s BAS’s and tax returns (which is business as usual) is a hangable offence!
Has anyone experienced this before, or have any suggestions on action we can take against our previous strata manager?
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jeff – if your former Strata Manager was not the Licensee of the business, then you or your Owners Corporation should make contact with whoever is, and explain the situation.
Depending upon how that goes, there is a Code of Conduct under the NSW Property, Stock and Business Agents Act (2010) that’s enforced by the NSW Department of Fair Trading (DFT), and another administered by Strata Community Australia (SCA) as the peak industry association.
So again depending upon the reaction that you get from the Licensee, I’d suggest that you read through THIS document and then contact SCA in the first instance to ascertain if your Strata Manager (or their Agency) is a Member, and if so then you or your Owners Corporation (O/C) can lodge a Complaint.
If your former Strata Manager is not an SCA Member (or even of they are), then you or your O/C can lodge a Complaint on-line with the DFT.