Proposed law change
The law requires us to offset debts on hold using any refunds or credits you're entitled to.
Proposed changes to this law were announced in the 2024–25 Budget. These changes will give us discretion not to offset in certain circumstances. Proposed changes are expected to affect debts placed on hold before 1 January 2017 for individuals, small businesses, and not-for-profit entities. The measure is not yet law.
You can check when your debt was placed on hold.
Included – debts on hold in the proposed measure
If the measure is passed, we can choose not to offset refunds or credits against debts that were placed on hold before 1 January 2017 and remain on hold. This would only apply to individuals, small businesses, and not-for-profit entities.
We're not currently including these debts on hold in account balances, and we aren’t offsetting any refunds or credits you’re entitled to against these debts. We remit the general interest charge that is applied to debts on hold when they are not included in account balances.
Not included – debts on hold not in the proposed measure
The proposed new law will not apply to:
- debts that were placed on hold on or after 1 January 2017
- debts of large businesses, super funds, multinationals and wealthy groups that were placed on hold prior to 1 January 2017.
The law requires us to offset these debts using any refunds or credits to which taxpayers become entitled.
We're making it easier for you to keep track of these debts and are now including these debts placed on hold in account balances.