From August 2025, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) are progressively including debts placed on hold in account balances. A debt on hold is a tax debt the ATO has paused taking actions to collect. Currently, the ATO are not including small businesses’ debts placed on hold before 1 January 2017 into account balances.

If your small business has a debt on hold of $100 or more, you will receive a letter before it’s added to your account balance. Small businesses with a debt on hold of less than $100 will not receive a letter, but the debt will be included in their account balance in ATO online services.

The ATO remits the general interest charge (GIC) that is applied to debts on hold when they are not included in account balances. It will stop remitting GIC 6 months from the day a small businesses’ debt on hold is included in their account balance. After this, GIC will start to apply.

Visit ato.gov.au/debtsonhold for more information, including how GIC will apply to these debts on hold.

Please also note that a proposed law change in the 2024-25 budget could mean the ATO may not apply refunds or credits owing to a taxpayer for debts placed on hold before 1 Jan 2017 – this measure is not yet law. Changes to offsetting debts on hold | Australian Taxation Office

ALSO: A gentle reminder that small business owners experiencing financial hardship and/or distress can get help from the Queensland Small Business Support network. For language assistance call: 1800 5123 451.