We provide information to the Tax Practitioners Board when we have identified potential activities involving agent misconduct or unregistered practitioner behaviour.
Roles
The Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) is a national body, independent of us. It is responsible for the registration and regulation of tax agents, BAS agents and tax (financial) advisers – collectively referred to as 'tax practitioners'. The TPB is also responsible for ensuring compliance with the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA), including the Code of Professional ConductExternal Link.
Alongside this, our role is to ensure the integrity of the tax and super system. While there is a clear separation of responsibilities between us and the TPB, both agencies help maintain community confidence by promoting a capable and well-regulated tax profession.
To do this, we and TPB lawfully and regularly share information on areas of mutual interest through an information exchange with Tax Practitioners Board. For us, this means sharing relevant information and referring suspected breaches of the TASA to the TPB.
Referral process
During normal activities, including internal reviews, our officers may identify potential breaches of the TASA. We refer these to the TPB where:
- the behaviour or actions of a registered practitioner indicate they may not be a ‘fit and proper’ person to hold registration as a tax practitioner
- there is evidence to suggest a registered practitioner may have breached the TASA, for example, one or more items of the code
- there is evidence to suggest an unregistered practitioner may have provided a service for a fee, advertised that service or otherwise represented that they are registered.
After a referral is made, the TPB may ask us for more information so they can carry out any further enquiry into the matter or request information for other investigations that they initiate.
See also
We give information to the Tax Practitioners Board if we identify potential activities involving agent misconduct or unregistered practitioner behaviour.