An individual tax agent and a company tax agent that the individual was the sole director and supervising agent of, were found to have breached multiple items of the Code of Professional Conduct (Code), by: 

• Failing to lodge their personal and company income tax returns by their respective due dates (Code item 2).
• Disclosing confidential client information to a third party without the clients’ permission (Code item 6).
• Failing to maintain relevant knowledge and skills by not completing the minimum level of continuing professional education requirements (Code item 8).
• Failing to maintain current professional indemnity (PI) insurance (Code item 13).
• Failing to respond to our requests and directions in a timely, responsible and reasonable manner (Code item 14).

They also no longer met the registration requirements as the individual tax agent ceased to be a fit and proper person and both failed to maintain PI insurance. Considering the serious nature of the misconduct, in particular the breach of client confidentiality, our Board Conduct Committee decided to terminate both the individual and company’s registrations and imposed on each a 3-year ban from re-applying.

This case demonstrates our ongoing commitment to enhancing the integrity of the registered tax practitioner profession. By targeting high risk tax practitioners, we are also protecting the community and supporting those tax practitioners who continue to do the right thing.