Small and medium businesses have done it tough over the last 5 years. If you’ve made it through COVID, its likely you are still feeling the pinch. The current state of the economy isn’t helping SMEs, costs are skyrocketing and sales are going in the opposite direction.
When things are tough, business owners do what they can to minimise costs, maybe they reduce staffing, reduce inventory, but what then? Often they string out creditors, which I’m sure they hate doing that because they know that they are small businesses too. They also stop paying themselves and they eat into whatever savings they have, then they might draw down their mortgage, or maybe max out their credit cards? Maybe they’ve even borrowed from friends and family. Does any of this sound familiar?
The tax office, the dreaded ATO, sometimes struggling businesses pay them late, or they stop paying them. Maybe they just pay PAYG and don’t pay BAS, maybe they stop paying both. They think they’ll catch it up, but with everything else going on, it gets more difficult to make any payments to the ATO.
If you’re behind in your lodgements the stress can keep you up late at night. You have to keep a straight face at home, maybe you’ve got kids and you don’t want to worry them, you have to keep up with all the usual school stuff, uniforms, books, fees, excursions. You
don’t want your kids to know that you are struggling. It’s a lot to deal with.
Maybe you’re worried about losing everything and having no livelihood. You could worried about losing your family home, and worried about how you’ll provide for your family.
So if you’re in this situation and the ATO is chasing you to repay your debt, don’t worry, there are a number of steps that the ATO takes before they try and wind your business up.
Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
If your business is in distress and you need some help, please give us a call or use our contact form and reach out.
