Companies carrying on a business or deriving property income in Australia are required to have and must appoint a public officer for the company. Amongst other things, the appointed public officer is the only person who is entitled to sign the company tax returns. The legislation does not allow for the appointment of multiple public officers for a particular company.
There should be opportunity to appoint more than one public officer or delegate for signing.
This is very impractical and leaves no options for the signing of returns and other forms and correspondence with the ATO in the event the public officer is not available.
The legislation should be amended to allow for multiple appointments. Alternatively, tax forms should be redesigned and ATO practice reviewed to allow for any person duly nominated by the company's public officer as a "back-up" during his or her absence to sign on his/her behalf. However, the public officer should be protected for any actions that are unlawful, improper or outside the delegated authority.
21/6/17 -
The Board agrees this idea has support within the tax community. The Board will raise this at an appropriate stage but ultimately policy is a matter for Government.
8/3/18 -
The Board has conducted further investigations into this proposal. The Board recommends that no changes are necessary at this time given the level of flexibility around the current regime. The Board notes that the public officer is needed primarily when it comes to submitting company returns. Further information relating to the criteria for being a public officer and the process for notifying the ATO can be found at: https://www.ato.gov.au/Tax-professionals/Your-practice/Tax-and-BAS-agents/Primary-contact-and-authorised-contacts/ .
It is worth noting that a company’s rules or articles of association determine who can be appointed a public officer on behalf of the company. This is a decision to be made by the company. In some cases, the decision may be made by a director or board of directors. As such, it is worth taking time to plan who this person will be so that arrangements can be made to ensure they are available when it comes to submitting company returns.
The Board also notes that companies can also nominate authorised contacts to act on their behalf in relation to some or all of an entities tax affairs and interactions with the ATO. Criteria for being an authorised contact can be found here: https://www.ato.gov.au/Tax-professionals/Your-practice/Tax-and-BAS-agents/Primary-contact-and-authorised-contacts/
The Board welcomes any comments members of the community might have in relation to this idea.
Primary contact and authorised contactsOutlines the roles and responsibilities of a primary contact and authorised contact, and who is authorised to appoint them.
30/4/18 -
Given no further comments have been made against this idea it will be moved to archive and can be re-opened for discussion if the Sounding Board community decides further discussion or investigation should be undertaken into the matter.