What is a Public Officer?
A public officer is the primary contact person of the company in relation to all the company’s obligations under the Income Tax and associated regulations. He is a company's representative to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and is responsible for ensuring that the company complies with the taxation law.
Which companies are required to appoint Public Officer?
Australian taxation law requires every company, unless the company is specifically exempted, to have a public officer if the company is –
- carrying on business in Australia or
- earning income from property in Australia.
Who can be appointed as a Public officer?
The public officer of the company must be:
- an individual
- at least 18 years old
- resident in Australia
- understands the nature of the appointment as the public officer of the company.
When a Public Officer is required to be appointed?
It is not necessary to appoint a public officer at the time of registering a company.
However, a public officer is required to be appointed within 3 months when a company starts carrying on a business in Australia or deriving income in Australia.
Consent is required from the person to act as Public Officer and the consent letter must-
- state the name of the new public officer
- state the address for service of notices
- state the company name
- be signed and dated by the public officer.
Consent of the public officer must be kept with the company’s records.
Who is to be informed about the appointment of public officer?
As the appointment of public officer is in relation to taxation matters, the company is required to notify Australian Taxation Office (ATO) about the company's public officer.
There must be a Public Officer appointed at all relevant time and only one person may be appointed as Public officer at any particular point of time. This means that if your public officer has resigned or removed or passed away or incapacitated, then a public officer has to be appointed in that place immediately. Any change in public officer must be notified to the ATO in writing within 28 days of the change.
What if public officer is not appointed?
If a company fails to appoint a public officer within the prescribed period, it will be penalized with a fine not exceeding one penalty unit per day till it contravenes the provisions and this is an offence of strict liability under Criminal Code.
