Public Officer of a Company: Role and Appointment

A public officer is the person a company appoints to represent it in its tax affairs and answer for its obligations. At onboarding, record who holds the role, confirm the appointment and correct missing or outdated details before the first lodgement.

What a Public Officer of a Company is

The public officer is the company’s tax representative and the person the ATO normally deals with about its tax affairs. The company chooses the person under its rules or constitution.

A company carrying on business in Australia or earning Australian property income must appoint one unless the Commissioner exempts it. The initial appointment is due within three months of starting the relevant activity. The office must then stay filled.

A director manages the company. A company secretary handles its corporate administration. The public officer has the tax-representation role. One person can hold more than one role, but becoming a director does not itself establish the public-officer appointment.

For example, an anonymous company’s resident director can also be its public officer once properly appointed and notified. Record both roles separately.

Who Can Be a Public Officer

A public officer must be an individual aged at least 18 who ordinarily lives in Australia and understands the appointment. The ATO also requires the person to establish their identity when contacting it. These are the ATO’s public-officer criteria.

Appoint someone who knows the company’s affairs and can arrange answers to ATO questions. A person nominated only because their address is convenient can miss notices or lack the information needed to respond.

If your tax agent or a staff member is proposed, assess eligibility and the duties involved before accepting. Being the company’s agent is a separate appointment. Do not treat agent registration as approval to take this role.

The practice must manage actual or potential conflicts under the TPB’s conflict guidance. Personal exposure as public officer can conflict with advice to the client about a default. Record the assessment, disclose the conflict and document how you manage it. Decline the role if the conflict cannot be managed.

Public Officer Responsibilities

The public officer answers for what the company must do under the income tax law, including responding to tax notices. In practice, the person must arrange record keeping and company returns, and ensure questions reach someone able to answer them.

Under section 252, a public officer can face the same penalties for a default. The company remains liable and is jointly liable for a penalty imposed on the officer. The director penalty regime imposes different obligations. Do not assume either role makes the person personally liable for every company tax debt.

A company that fails to appoint when necessary can face a daily offence with a maximum fine of one penalty unit. A vacancy does not excuse the company’s tax failures. Documents can still be served on a person acting in its business, so an empty office can leave notices unanswered.

How to Appoint or Change a Public Officer

Appoint the person under the company’s authority, give written notice to the ATO and update the relevant records. An ABR amendment alone must not replace the appointment and notice.

1. Check who can appoint under the company’s constitution or rules. Record the decision in the appropriate resolution or minute.
2. Obtain the person’s written acceptance. Confirm their eligibility and record when the appointment takes effect.
3. Give the ATO written notice with the person’s name and address for service. Keep the notice and evidence of appointment together. Section 252 requires that notice before the appointment is duly made.
4. For a change, arrange the replacement without leaving the role vacant. A previously identified authorised contact can notify the ATO with the required authority declaration. The incoming officer can request the change with evidence of appointment.
5. Update the ABR associate record where applicable. The ABR’s update rule requires changes within 28 days of becoming aware of them. This does not give the company 28 days to leave the role vacant.

For online ABR changes, use myID linked to the ABN in RAM. Select Update ABN record, review Associates, amend the details and submit the declaration. The ABR’s illustrated steps show the screens. Keep the submitted confirmation and check the resulting record against the resolution.

Use this sample resolution where the directors have appointment authority. Complete the fields and adapt the wording to the company’s rules.

The directors resolve to appoint the person recorded below as the company’s public officer for income tax purposes from the recorded appointment date. The company authorises written notice to the Commissioner and the necessary record updates.

Appointment Record	Details to Complete
Company	Legal name and ACN
Public officer	Full name
Contact details	Address for service, telephone and email
Appointment	Effective date
Company approval	Resolution date and approving directors
Acceptance	Officer’s signed acceptance and date

A change of director or secretary has its own ASIC notification steps. Tax-agent nomination and RAM authorisations also remain separate.

Recording the Public Officer at Onboarding

Ask every new company client who its public officer is and request the appointment record. Compare the answer with the private ABR associate record through authorised access. A public ABN search does not replace that check.

Put the question beside the director and secretary questions in the new-client form. Collect the officer’s name, address for service and appointment date. Ask whether the ATO has been notified and request the supporting record.

Tax Genie lets your practice add its own questions and choose which answers are required. Add the public-officer question to the company form. Its automatic reminders chase outstanding answers and documents. When a client reports that nobody is appointed, staff must arrange the appointment steps before treating the answer as complete.

Give clients without an officer this short note.

Your company needs a public officer to handle its tax obligations and receive ATO notices. Please arrange an eligible person’s appointment under the company’s rules and obtain their written acceptance. Give written notice to the ATO and send us the appointment record so we can check the details before the first lodgement.

Finish with the appointment evidence, current contact details and confirmation of notification on the client file. Separately complete the client’s nomination of your practice as tax agent.

Public Officer Role for Not-For-Profit Clients

A not-for-profit company’s tax public officer and an incorporated association’s state-law officeholder are separate roles. Determine the client’s legal entity type before applying the company appointment steps.

For a company, record the tax public officer and the ATO notification. The ATO also lists the public officer as the primary contact for an incorporated association. For an association, record that tax contact separately from the officeholder required by its state or territory law.

For example, NSW associations appoint a public officer who is the contact for NSW Fair Trading. A vacancy must be filled within 28 days, and the new officer must notify Fair Trading within 28 days of appointment.

Victorian associations have a secretary who handles notifications to Consumer Affairs Victoria. The vacancy rule is 14 days, with a temporary appointment if a permanent replacement is impractical. These state deadlines do not replace the ATO appointment requirements.

The tax role also reaches some trust estates under section 252A, including relevant trusts with no resident trustee. Avoid assuming every non-company client falls outside the rules.

Record the association’s jurisdiction, regulator, required officeholder and notice obligations alongside its tax contact. Use the relevant state regulator’s appointment instructions for that entity, then assign any missing appointment or notification to a named staff role.