The tax file says prepared but you need evidence of lodgement

The saved return has a date on it

Imagine a director receives a penalty notice and finds a tax return saved months earlier. The filename says final, so the director assumes it was lodged then. A prepared document and a lodgement confirmation are different records. Send the notice promptly to the tax agent and lawyer, and ask them to establish what was actually submitted and when.

Keep professional review urgent

ASIC's director guidance says to seek professional advice immediately after receiving a director penalty notice. Do that while collecting the records. Do not calculate options from a file's creation date or a general description such as lockdown. Ask the advisers to determine the relevant history, the legal position and the action required for the particular notice.

Source: ASIC: Insolvency for directors

Ask for the submission evidence

Request the tax agent's available lodgement receipts, acknowledgements and account records for the relevant periods. Identify any submission that failed or remained in draft. In the hypothetical example, the return might have been prepared in June but submitted later, or the original submission may require clarification. Preserve the records showing each event rather than selecting one convenient date.

Build a neutral chronology

List preparation, approval, submission and acknowledgement as separate events where evidence exists. Record the relevant period and document reference beside each one. Mark gaps explicitly. Do not ask someone to recreate a historical receipt or retrospectively describe an unverified submission as completed. Your advisers need a factual sequence, including uncertainty, to assess the implications properly.

Keep liability types distinguishable

Use the categories and periods shown in the notice and tax records rather than combining every amount into one undated total. Ask the tax agent to explain mismatches and the lawyer to assess their significance. The timetable and consequences should not be inferred from a general article. Include the complete notice and delivery records alongside the chronology.

Assign the remaining enquiries

Record who is obtaining missing evidence and when it will be provided, without delaying an urgent response. Keep copies of material sent to each adviser so both work from the same information. CRP can help organise the commercial records. The useful preparation is proof of the reporting events that actually occurred, rather than confidence based on a document that was merely ready to send.