Illegal phoenix activity is when a new company is created to continue the business of an existing company that has been deliberately liquidated to avoid paying its debts, including taxes, creditors and employee entitlements.
When phoenix activity occurs repeatedly with the aim of ripping off the companys creditors and employees, this is considered illegal.
Illegal phoenix activity impacts the business community, employees, contractors, the government and environment.
There are a number of warning signs of illegal phoenix activity. You might notice:
- salary, superannuation and other employee entitlements may not be paid
- a competitor is offering significantly lower quotes or you are given a quote that is lower than market value
- you don’t receive a payslip or on your payslip the employers company name is different to previous payslips
- the company director’s name changes but the manager and staff remain the same.
These are just some of the potential warning signs that a business may be involved in illegal phoenix activity.
A Phoenix Taskforce has been set up to combat illegal phoenix activity. More than 20 state and federal government agencies are working together to identify, manage and monitor suspected illegal phoenix operators.
Jagjit Singh, Community Relations Officer, ATO Source: Supplied
The ATO has sophisticated data matching tools to help them locate illegal phoenix operators and stop this from happening to businesses.
If you suspect an illegal phoenix operator simply:
- call 1800 060 062
fill out and submit a ‘Tax evasion reporting form’ found at ato.gov.au/forms
For more information, listen to the audio link above.
Hear previous Tax Talk segments
ATO Tax Talk April 2017: Simpler BAS
