• New South Wales imposes interest and penalty tax on late taxpayers.australian money image by Horticulture from Fotolia.com
  
  The general administration of tax law in New South Wales (NSW) is governed by the Taxation Administration Act of 1996. Generally speaking, late taxpayers are subject to interest and/or penalty taxes, depending on the nature of their infraction. Final decisions pertaining to the imposition of interest and penalty taxes are overseen by the Commissioner of State Revenue.
  
  

Interest taxes

• NSW law stipulates that tax defaulters are liable to pay interest on taxes they fail to pay by dates stipulated by law. Interest on such taxes is composed of two components, market rate and premium. The market rate component is the bank accepted bill rate rounded to the second decimal place, unless another rate is specified by the commissioner. As of July, 2010, the premium rate is 8 percent per year.
  
  

Penalty taxes

• Penalty taxes are imposed on all late taxpayers, unless the commissioner determines they made attempts to comply with the law or that they failed to pay solely because of factors outside of their control (this does not include their own financial incapacity). The penalty rate is generally 25 percent of total unpaid tax, in addition to whatever interest rate is imposed on it. The total amount of penalty tax may be adjusted by up to 80 percent depending on a taxpayer's cooperation with the commissioner.
  
  

Remissions

• Under certain circumstances, interest or penalty taxes may be waived. If either amounts to less than AUD$20, as of July, 2010, the taxpayer has no obligation to pay them. In addition, the commissioner has the ability to remit either by any amount in such circumstances as (he) considers appropriate.