Urgent · Director liability assessment
Directors who don't act in time become personally liable for company tax debt. A 2-minute confidential check tells you which options are still on the table — and how fast you need to move.
Makes you personally liable for unpaid PAYG, GST and super. Two flavours — and the difference matters.
The ATO can redirect funds from your customers, suppliers or bank — without going to court.
21 days to pay or face presumed insolvency and a winding-up application.
BAS overdue 3+ months = automatic personal liability. Acting fast still helps — just differently.
Think of an SBR as a government-approved deal with the ATO and your other creditors. You offer to pay back a portion of what you owe — typically 20 to 30 cents in the dollar — and if they agree, the rest is wiped.
That's it. That's the core of it.
SBR stands for Small Business Restructuring. The government introduced it in 2021 specifically for small Pty Ltd companies under <$1M in debt that are still worth saving.
When you're staring at an ATO demand, these are the outcomes that matter.
The ATO is bound by the plan along with every other unsecured creditor. Typical outcome: 20–30c in the dollar.
No administrator. You keep running the business throughout the 35-day process.
The statutory process is short. There's no months-long limbo like Voluntary Administration.
Once the plan is voted in, statutory demands, garnishees and creditor calls against the company stop.
Langford & Chase are strategic advisors — not insolvency practitioners. We prepare the business and the plan, then introduce you to a registered SBR Practitioner from our trusted network. When a DPN clock is running, our job is to compress that process.
Triage the DPN, confirm whether SBR is the right tool, identify what else needs to happen in the next 7 days.
If lodgments are blocking eligibility — or risking lockdown — we get them in immediately, in the right order.
Restructuring Plan, creditor numbers, cashflow case — built to ATO-vote standard.
Registered SBR Practitioner from our trusted network, briefed and ready to be appointed.
We handle the conversations. You keep running the business.
Ongoing support until the plan is voted in and bedded down.
Is the business a company? How much is owed? What have you received from the ATO? The qualifier walks you through the rest — plain English, no documents.
A standard DPN gives you 21 days to act — liquidate, voluntarily administer, or restructure — to avoid personal liability. A lockdown DPN is issued when the BAS that triggered it was already 3+ months overdue. With a lockdown DPN, personal liability is automatic and immediate.
No. A DPN converts the company's tax debt to a personal debt. SBR addresses company debts only. If SBR is started before personal liability locks in, the company-side risk can be resolved through the plan. Personal liability already crystallised needs a separate strategy.
Yes. The eligibility tool is anonymous until you choose to give us your details. We never share or sell data.
Don't assume it's too late. Even after personal liability locks in, options exist: payment arrangements, hardship variations, restructuring the personal position. The earlier you call, the more options you have.
The eligibility check and initial strategy call are free. Any work after that is quoted upfront before we start.
Why directors trust us
Specialists in Small Business Restructuring under Part 5.3B
Director-owned. Level 21, 207 Kent St — not a call centre
Same-day triage when a DPN clock is running
Trusted network of ASIC-registered SBR Practitioners
Strict privacy — no public filings, no leaks to creditors
Langford & Chase — Strategic pre-insolvency advisory
Strategic advisory only. We prepare the plan, model the numbers, and introduce a registered Practitioner from our network. We do not act as the Practitioner ourselves — keeping advice and execution properly separated.