ATO credit reporting

The ATO intends to report your tax debt to credit bureaus

The notice gives you 28 days from receiving it. The ATO may report a business tax debt where you have an ABN, at least $100,000 is overdue by more than 90 days, and you are not effectively engaging with it. Paying the debt, or entering and complying with a payment plan, both stop the disclosure.

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What the letter means

The ATO is telling you it intends to report your business tax debt to credit reporting bureaus, and giving you 28 days from receiving the notice to do something about it. That is the important sentence on the letter and it is easy to miss among everything else in it.

The ATO can report a debt where all of the following are true: you have an ABN and are not an excluded entity; at least $100,000 is overdue by more than 90 days; you are not effectively engaging with the ATO to manage the debt; and you do not have an active complaint with the Tax Ombudsman about the intent to report. Change any one of those and the disclosure does not happen.

Why this particular consequence is worse than it sounds

Every other ATO consequence is a number: interest accrues, penalties apply, a liability becomes personal. Disclosure is different, because it changes how everyone else deals with you and it does so without telling you.

Trade terms disappear. Suppliers who credit-check you see the debt and move you to cash on delivery, which increases the working capital the business needs at exactly the moment it has least.
Finance gets harder and dearer. Not only from banks. Brokers, equipment financiers and insurers all read business credit files.
Contracts and tenders. Prequalification and panel arrangements frequently include a credit check, and a reported tax debt is a straightforward reason to be passed over.
You will not be told. There is no notification when a supplier quietly declines to extend terms. The damage is real and largely invisible, which is why it is worth spending money to avoid.

Four ways to stop it, inside 28 days

Option	What it requires	Worth knowing
Pay the debt	The cash, or a facility that provides it	Removes this and every other consequence, including director penalty exposure on the PAYG and GST components.
Enter a payment plan and comply with it	Lodgements up to date and capacity to meet the instalments	The ATO's published position is that effective engagement, including a plan being complied with, means it will not report. A defaulted plan gives no protection.
Bring the balance under the threshold	A part payment	Discuss with the ATO before relying on it. The criteria are applied by the ATO, not by you, and partial payment leaves the rest of the exposure in place.
Complaint to the Tax Ombudsman	An actual dispute about the intent to report	A specific process with its own requirements. Take advice — this is not a delaying tactic and should not be used as one.

Clearing it with a loan

Where there is equity in real property, the debt can be paid out in full and the disclosure does not occur. Funds are remitted directly to the ATO using the payment reference number on your notice, so the balance is cleared at settlement. We do not require your lodgements to be up to date, we do not ask for financials, and an existing or defaulted payment plan does not disqualify anyone. A person decides every loan. Every application is read by a Lending Manager and every credit decision is signed off by a person. We do not use artificial intelligence to assess, approve, decline or price a loan.

The arithmetic is usually straightforward, and it has shifted since 1 July 2025: general interest charge on the ATO balance accrues at 11.43% for the quarter beginning 1 July 2026, compounds daily, and is no longer deductible, while interest on a loan taken for a business purpose generally is. Add the commercial cost of a reported tax debt and the comparison is rarely close.

How much you can borrow

Take the property's value, multiply by 80% for residential security or 70% for commercial, and subtract what is already owing on it. What is left is roughly what is available, between $20,000 and $5,000,000. Several properties can be added together, and the borrower does not have to be the owner — companies, trusts and sole traders — including start-ups, with everyone on title signing. Up to 80% on residential and 70% on commercial. Lower on large acreage, and LVRs may reduce on properties worth less than $800,000.

From the call to the money

Tell us the deal

Amount, purpose, timing, the property and how the loan gets repaid. A Lending Manager gives you an indicative answer on that call — usually in minutes.

Minutes

Conditional approval

Photo ID, a rates notice and your most recent mortgage statement. That is the whole list, and it takes about fifteen minutes.

About 15 minutes

Funds released

As little as 24 hours from a clean, complete scenario. Paid where you tell us — to your account, or straight to the ATO.

As little as 24 hours

What it costs

Priced per file, on the property, the position, the amount and the exit. No rate is published, because a rate with "from" in front of it is the best file's number. How it is priced, and every fee that exists.

✓Upfront: a small commitment fee, payable only once your loan is conditionally approved

✓Valuation fee: none — we don't use valuers

✓Monthly or line fees: none — no monthly, line or account-keeping fees

✓Fee to extend: none — no rollover fees, legal fees or rewriting the loan to extend

Questions we get on the phone

What is an intent to disclose notice?

A written notice from the ATO saying it intends to report your business tax debt to credit reporting bureaus, and giving you 28 days from receiving it to take action. It is not the disclosure itself — it is the warning before it, and the 28 days is the window in which the outcome can still be changed.

When can the ATO report a tax debt?

Where you have an ABN and are not an excluded entity, at least $100,000 is overdue by more than 90 days, you are not effectively engaging with the ATO to manage the debt, and you do not have an active complaint with the Tax Ombudsman about the intent to report. All of those have to be true.

Does a payment plan stop it?

Yes, provided you are complying with it. The ATO's published position is that where you are effectively engaging with it to manage the debt, it will not report, even if the balance is $100,000 or more — and having a payment plan and complying with its terms is one way that is satisfied. A plan you have defaulted on does not protect you.

What actually happens if it is disclosed?

The debt appears in your business credit file with the credit reporting bureaus. Suppliers who credit-check you, insurers, landlords, finance brokers and banks can all see it. In practice the consequences show up as withdrawn trade terms and declined applications rather than as a letter, which is why businesses often do not realise how much it has cost them.

How long does it stay on the file?

Until the ATO notifies the bureaus that the debt no longer meets the criteria — broadly, once it is paid or brought under an effective arrangement. Ask the ATO to confirm when it has been updated rather than assuming; the bureaus act on what they are told.

Can I borrow to clear it inside the 28 days?

Yes, where there is equity in real property. We remit funds directly to the ATO using your payment reference number, and settlement is as little as 24 hours from a clean, complete scenario. Twenty-eight days is comfortable for that — the mistake is treating it as four weeks of thinking time rather than as a deadline to act inside.

Will the loan itself show on my credit file?

HomeSec does not report to the consumer credit bureaus the way a bank loan does, and we do not run our decision off a credit score. A second mortgage or caveat is registered on the property's title, which is a different register entirely.

My debt is under $100,000. Am I safe?

From this particular consequence, on the current criteria, yes. The other consequences of an unpaid balance continue regardless — general interest charge compounding daily, director penalty exposure on the PAYG withholding and GST components, and the ATO's other recovery options. The threshold is a reporting rule, not a safe harbour.

What if I dispute the debt?

Talk to the ATO and to your accountant immediately, and note that an active complaint with the Tax Ombudsman about the intent to report is one of the circumstances in which the ATO will not report. That is a specific process, not a general objection, so take advice on it rather than assuming a phone call is enough.

Note the date on the letter

Twenty-eight days from receipt, not from when you get around to it. Tell us the balance and the property and you will have an indicative answer on the call. 1300 93 83 87, Mon–Fri, 8:30am – 5:30pm Melbourne time.

Other pressure points

Where to start when cash has run out Cannot make payroll BAS due and cannot pay it A supplier has stopped supply The bank has called the facility A customer has gone under owing you Served with a winding-up application Small business restructuring explained A statutory demand has been served A Director Penalty Notice Clearing an ATO tax debt

Sixty seconds, no documents

See if you qualify in sixty seconds

Three short questions, no credit check to apply and no financial statements. A Lending Manager reads it and calls you back with a real answer — not a call centre, not an algorithm.

That's the HomeSec Advantage.

See if you qualify Call 1300 93 83 87Mon–Fri, 8:30am – 5:30pm Melbourne time

Reviewed by Catriona Anderson, General Manager