In a Treasury consultation paper, the government noted that the Black Economy Taskforce proposed that ABNs should be subject to periodic renewal.
It said a renewal process would indirectly address fraudulent behaviour by prompting ABN holders to have closer engagement with the ABN system, which would create opportunities to remind ABN holders of the ABN entitlement rules and the penalties for providing false information as part of applying for an ABN.
Treasury also noted the Taskforce proposed that fees be considered for ABN registrations and renewals, and that the fees would cover the cost of the registration and renewal process, consistent with fee arrangements for similar registration and renewal processes, and would also assist the Registrar to better support the data needs of ABR data users.
Currently, it costs businesses $36 to register a business name for one year, $84 for three years. The fees for renewal are identical to registration.
“The [Black Economy] Taskforce suggested an option could be to align ABN renewal processes with other similar renewal processes where possible and consider whether a single fee could be charged where an entity has multiple identifiers,” Treasury said.
“This may not be straightforward in all cases where there may be different entities associated with an enterprise.”
Treasury said a fee may further discourage people from holding an ABN when they do not need one or are not entitled to one.
Further, it said that this could help restrict the ABN system to genuinely active businesses and other entitled entities and, in turn, would have flow-on effects for the quality of the ABN data.
The reforms to the ABN system is one part of the government’s broader plan towards eliminating the black economy, something flagged by the Institute of Public Accountants as a major item from this year’s federal budget.
Other measures introduced by the government include addressing corporate misuse of the Fair Entitlements Guarantee scheme, new exposure legislation on GST measures for property transactions, and the extension of the director penalty regime.
Submissions to the consultation close on 31 August.