The Federal Court has handed down the highest total civil penalty for a Tax Practitioner Board (TPB) application against Sydney unregistered preparer, Jayden Van Dyke. Mr Van Dyke was issued with a $1,800,000 penalty for 3,300 separate contraventions of the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA) when he prepared and lodged income tax returns, for a fee, while not a registered tax agent with the TPB. 

The Federal Court also ordered Mr Van Dyke to pay the TPB’s costs and permanently restrained him from providing tax agent services for a fee or other reward, while not a registered tax agent. If Mr Van Dyke breaches the order imposed by the Court, he may be liable to imprisonment or other punishment for contempt. 

Justice Abraham found Mr Van Dyke’s conduct was deliberate and was undertaken for financial gain. He obtained a significant financial gain of $1,600,000 – generally charging $500 for the preparation and lodgement of each income tax return.

Justice Abraham reflected ‘Mr Van Dyke sought to minimise his conduct, giving explanations which downplayed the circumstances in which he committed the contraventions. The respondent’s counsel sought to advance this as a positive attribute, being evidence that Mr Van Dyke appreciates the seriousness of the position he is in. I do not accept that submission...That said, this was deliberate, repeated, and sustained conduct, which continued (seemingly unabated initially, but later to a lesser degree), even after being warned of legal action in the cease-and-desist letter’.

The Chair of the TPB, Mr Peter de Cure AM welcomes this landmark penalty and said ‘despite Mr Van Dyke receiving a cease-and-desist letter from the TPB, he continued to defy the law, representing himself as a registered tax agent when he knew of the requirement for registration. In doing so, he exposed many taxpayers to a scenario where they were receiving tax agent services without the protections offered by a person who is doing the right thing by being registered under the TASA and maintaining appropriate standards including professional indemnity insurance’.

Mr de Cure went on to say ‘Mr Van Dyke also concealed the income he earned from the misconduct from the Australian Taxation Office, illustrating further the serious nature of the respondent’s behaviour. We are committed to protecting consumers and the integrity of the tax profession and the tax system from such unlawful conduct. Our unregistered preparer tool helps us to detect and deal with this type of conduct. If anyone this tax time is considering providing tax services for a fee without TPB registration, be warned we will act and there are serious consequences.’

Mr Van Dyke was able to lodge the tax returns by obtaining the taxpayers MyGov login details. The TPB is reminding taxpayers to never share their myGov password with anyone as doing so puts your personal and financial information at risk. In addition, when engaging a tax practitioner check the TPB register to ensure the authenticity of the practitioner’s registration. Taxpayers obtaining professional tax advice should only ever engage a tax practitioner registered with the TPB. 

About the Tax Practitioners Board

The TPB regulates tax practitioners in order to protect consumers. The TPB aims to assure the community that tax practitioners meet appropriate standards of professional and ethical conduct. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.