Northern Territory Numbered Acts Northern Territory Numbered Acts(1) This section applies if the Commissioner issues an assessment notice to a company and the amount assessed is not paid by the due date.
(2) The Commissioner may serve a notice on the directors of the company informing them that they will become jointly and severally liable with the company for the payment of the tax unless the company remedies its tax default within 28 days from the date of the notice.
(3) A notice under subsection (2) must be served on each director:
(a) personally; or
(b) if personal service is impracticable – by a form of non-personal service authorised under section 144.
(4) For the purposes of this section, a company remedies a default if:
(a) the tax liability as assessed, and any further liability for interest that has accrued since the date of the assessment, is paid; or
(b) the company enters into an instalment arrangement on conditions satisfactory to the Commissioner; or
(c) the company enters into voluntary administration under Part 5.3A of the Corporations Act 2001; or
(d) the company goes into liquidation.
(5) If a company remedies its default by entering into an instalment arrangement but later contravenes a condition of the arrangement, the company's default is taken to revive and the Commissioner may serve another notice on the directors under this section.
(6) If the company fails to remedy its default within the 28-day period, the directors become jointly and severally liable, with the company, for the payment of the tax liability assessed against the company.
(7) In proceedings for recovery of tax from a director under this section, it is a defence for the director to establish that:
(a) the director took all reasonable steps that were possible in the circumstances to get the company to remedy its default; or
(b) the director was unable because of illness or for some other proper reason to take steps to get the company to remedy its default.
(8) If a director pays tax or tax is recovered from a director under this section, the director is entitled to be indemnified by the company for the amount paid or recovered.
(9) In this section:
"director", of a company, includes a person who was a director when the relevant tax liability was incurred by the company, or a notice under this section was issued, but has since ceased to be a director.