Tax practitioner disclosures

As a Tax Agent, our work for you is performed in accordance with the Tax Agent Services Act 2009. Under this Act, the Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024 requires we make certain disclosures. Here, we outline your obligations to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and our obligations to you, the Tax Practitioners Board and ATO.

As a taxpayer, it is important you are aware of your obligations to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and understand our obligations as a tax practitioner to you, the ATO and the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB).

Here we outline the various obligations for both you (as a tax payer) and us, along with what they mean for you.

Your obligations and possible penalties

Your obligations

• Be truthful with the information you provide us.
• Keep the required records and provide them to us on a timely basis, as required.
• Be co-operative with our requests, and meet their due dates.
• Comply with the tax laws.

If you don’t meet your obligations

• The ATO may impose administrative penalties (fines).
• Interest charges may be applied.
• In some cases, criminal prosecutions may be sought.
• The ATO may initiate debt recovery.

Tax practitioner obligations and possible penalties

Our obligations include

• Act honestly and with integrity.
• Uphold and promote the ethical standards of the tax profession.
• Act lawfully in your best interests.
• Manage any conflicts of interest.
• Take reasonable care to ascertain your state of affairs and apply tax laws correctly.
• Keep your information confidential unless there is a legal duty to disclose.
• Provide services competently.
• Not knowingly obstruct the administration of the tax laws.
• Advise you of your rights and obligations under the tax laws
• Account to you for money or other property on trust.
• Not make false or misleading statements to the TPB or ATO, and in some cases withdraw their engagement with you and notify the TPB or ATO of certain matters.
• Keep proper records.
• Keep you informed of certain matters so you can make informed decisions.
• Address any false or misleading statements they are responsible for.
• Engage with clients to address other false or misleading statements, exploring options to correct.
• In higher risk cases, withdraw our services and notify the ATO or TPB about false or misleading statements.

If we do not meet our obligations to you or under the law

• Our registration can be suspended or terminated, meaning they can’t practice.
• We could receive a caution or orders from the TPB – for example, undertaking education or working under the supervision of another registered tax practitioner.
• Have fines imposed on us by the Federal Court.
• Your tax and superannuation matters may not be accurate.
• You may be subject to enquiries or audits.
• Any tax shortfalls may attract penalties and interest.
• Litigation to review decisions and to recover debts.
• In the case of fraud or criminality, penalties may lead to prosecutions.

Information about the TPB Register

To support you make the right decisions about any tax practitioner, the TPB maintains a register. You can identify registered BAS agents and tax agents, as well as those who are in your locality. The TPB’s Register also provides important information about higher risk cases, where an investigation has resulted in serious sanctions being imposed. Further information about the Public Register can be found at: tpb.gov.au/help-using-tpb-register

How to make a complaint to the TPB

You can provide information to the TPB, about a tax practitioner, using a simple online form at: myprofile.tpb.gov.au/complaints

Complaints can also be made about unregistered preparers who are not complying with the law. All complaints and referrals are assessed by the TPB. In addition, the TPB has client service compliance strategies that address the highest risk issues. Further information about the TPB complaints process is available at: tpb.gov.au/complaints

General information about rights, responsibilities and obligations

We are required to advise you of your rights, responsibilities and obligations. These rights and responsibilities may arise under the tax law or because of the particular services we provide to you.

Key rights and responsibilities of tax practitioners include their obligations to:

• act honestly and with integrity
• provide competent services
• exercise reasonable care
• practice lawfully in their clients’ best interests
• address confidentiality and any conflicts of interest.

Key rights and responsibilities of clients to tax practitioners include:

acting honestly and with integrity
responding to reasonable requests and timelines (acknowledging that all taxpayers and tax practitioners may need to comply with time restrictions in the tax law).

Prescribed events within the last 5 years

If certain prescribed events have occurred within the last 5 years, we must advise you of this at the time you make enquiries to engage or reengage us to provide tax services. Otherwise, we must notify you within 30 days of us becoming aware of the matter. Prescribed events include if the tax practitioner was:

suspended or terminated by the TPB
an undischarged bankrupt or went into external administration
convicted of a serious taxation offence or an offence involving fraud or dishonesty
serving or sentenced to a term of imprisonment in Australia for 6 months or more.

Tax practitioners need to be transparent with clients about certain misconduct (prescribed events) that may have occurred in the past 5 years. This disclosure obligation extends to prospective clients – for example, a taxpayer seeking a quote for tax agent services).

Registration subject to conditions

We must advise you if your tax practitioner’s registration is subject to conditions (e.g. they can only provide tax services related to research and development or tax (financial) advice services).

We must notify you of this at the time you are making inquiries to engage or re-engage us to provide you with tax services. Otherwise, we must notify you within 30 days of them becoming aware of the matter.

Questions and complaints

If you have a question or complaint, please connect with a member of our Nexia Edwards Marshall team today. We take all complaints seriously, and will respond to your complaint within a reasonable period.