Director IDs - the 30 November deadline is fast approaching

With little more than a month to go, many directors have still not applied for their director ID. Hopefully the Government’s new awareness campaign will get the ball rolling. But there’s still confusion about who needs to apply.

For anyone who became a director of a company for the first time since 1 November 2021, director IDs should be old news. But for directors appointed before then, the deadline for applying for a director ID is 30 November 2022.

But did you realise that anyone who was a director of a company on 31 October 2021, has since ceased all of their directorships and has no intention of ever being a director again still needs to apply for a director ID? For example, someone who wound up their SMSF and deregistered their trustee company since 31 October 2021 still needs a director ID.

Why? The legislation simply didn’t build in carve out for these former directors.

Thankfully we understand the ATO (as Registrar) has recently confirmed they will provide an exemption for directors who have since died. Unfortunately though we are still awaiting a similar exemption for other former directors including those who have lost mental capacity.

Hopefully this confusion will be resolved shortly but in the meantime, for those unsure how to apply, jump on to https://www.abrs.gov.au/director-identification-number or have a read of our information page.