Voluntary undertakings

A voluntary undertaking is one of the legal remedies available to the Commissioner under the promoter penalty laws (PPL).

The main objective of the promoter penalty laws is to deter the promotion of tax avoidance and tax evasion schemes. They have an additional objective to enhance the integrity of the product ruling system by deterring implementation of a scheme in a materially different manner to that described in its product ruling where doing so may have potential tax consequence for investors.

The Commissioner may accept a voluntary undertaking from an entity in order to deter future promotion of tax exploitation schemes. A voluntary undertaking is appropriate in cases where there is a high likelihood of the entity voluntarily complying with the undertaking and where other factors do not argue more strongly in favour of alternative remedies. The content of voluntary undertakings is kept confidential.

The voluntary undertaking template provides guidance on what you may need to consider when preparing an undertaking for the Commissioner's consideration.

Voluntary undertaking submissions should be marked for the attention of the relevant promoter compliance officer conducting the review or investigation, and addressed to:

Deputy Commissioner
Aggressive Tax Planning
PO Box 9977
CIVIC SQUARE  ACT  2608

You can find more information about voluntary undertakings and promoter penalty laws in the Promoter Penalty Laws: Practice Statements.