Temporary changes to director obligations
The Federal Government has announced that to lessen the threat of actions that could unnecessarily push otherwise profitable and viable businesses into insolvency and help ensure they can resume normal operations when the crisis has passed, the following temporary measures have been put in place:
- Relief for directors from any personal liability for trading while insolvent
- Increasing the threshold for creditors issuing a statutory demand on a company from $2,000 to $20,000 and extending the timeframe for a company to respond from 21 days to six months
- Increasing the threshold for a creditor to initiate bankruptcy proceedings from $5,000 to $20,000 and extending the time period for debtors to respond to a bankruptcy notice from 21 days to six months and extending the period of protection a debtor receives after declaring an intention to enter voluntary bankruptcy from 21 days to six months
- Providing temporary flexibility in the Corporations Act 2001 to provide targeted relief for companies from provisions of the Act to deal with unforeseen events that arise as a result of the Coronavirus health crisis.
For more information, read the Federal Government fact sheet.
Credit – Tax and Super Australia