Under section 45 of the Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024 (Code Determination), you must advise all current and prospective clients of the following information:
- Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) public register – you must advise clients that we (the TPB) maintain a public register of tax and BAS agents and how they can access and search that register. We recommend you also provide a direct link to your registration details on the register.
- TPB’s complaint process – you must advise how clients can make a complaint about a tax agent service (including a BAS service) they have received. At a minimum, you should advise your client that a complaint can be made in writing to us via our website and provide a link to our complaint form and that further information about our complaints process is available on our website.
- Rights, responsibilities and obligations – you must provide general information about your rights, responsibilities and obligations as a registered tax practitioner under the taxation laws, and obligations your clients have to you.
Prescribed events – you must provide a reasonable level of detail to your clients if any of the following prescribed events have occurred within the last 5 years (even if you had notified us of the event and we determined you continue to be fit and proper):
- your registration was suspended or terminated by us
- you were an undischarged bankrupt or went into external administration
- you were convicted of a serious taxation offence
- you were convicted of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty
- you were serving, or were sentenced to, a term of imprisonment in Australia for 6 months or more
- you were penalised, subject to an injunction, or been subject to an order for breaching a voluntary undertaking for:
- being a promoter of a tax exploitation scheme
- implementing a scheme that has been promoted on the basis of conformity with a public ruling, private ruling or oral ruling in a way that is materially different from that described in the ruling
- promoting on the basis of conformity with a public ruling, private ruling or oral ruling a scheme that is materially different from that described in the ruling
- the Federal Court has ordered you to pay a pecuniary penalty for contravening a civil penalty provision under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009.
When determining what prescribed events have occurred within the last 5 years, you should calculate the timeframe with reference to the time you receive an inquiry to engage or re-engage you, but it does not apply to events which occurred before 1 July 2022.
- Prescribed matters – you must advise if your registration is subject to conditions that limit the scope of tax agent or BAS services that you can provide.
These obligations highlight the importance of your role as a registered tax practitioner to preserve public trust and confidence in the tax system. They further help ensure that clients are provided with relevant information, so they can make fully informed decisions as to whether to engage (or continue to engage) you to use your services and to represent them in their tax affairs.
In the case of a partnership or company registered tax practitioner, this obligation is to be met by the entity providing the tax agent services to its clients. It does not extend to individual registered tax practitioners who form part of the ‘sufficient number’ requirement to provide tax agent services (including BAS services) to clients on behalf of the entity. For further information, refer to TPB(I) 49/2024 Keeping your clients informed.
When does this obligation start
This obligation applies from:
- 1 July 2025 – for tax practitioners with 100 or less employees
- 1 January 2025 – for other tax practitioners.
When to keep clients informed
The required timeframes for you to keep all your current and prospective clients informed are outlined in the table below. We expect you to take all reasonable steps to advise your clients of relevant matters as soon as practicable.
| Reference number (as listed in the opening section) | Relevant matters | Required timeframes for tax practitioners to advise clients |
|---|---|---|
| 1, 2 and 3 | TPB Register, Complaints process and general information about rights, responsibilities and obligations | You must advise clients upon:
|
| 4 | If a prescribed event arose between 1 July 2022 and the relevant start date of the obligation for you | You must advise clients of prescribed events by no later than:
|
| If a prescribed event arises after the relevant start date of the obligation for you | At the time of the inquiry if a current or prospective client makes inquiries to engage or re-engage you to provide tax agent services. Otherwise, within 30 days of the event for an existing client not previously advised of the information. | |
| 5 | Prescribed matters | At the time of the inquiry if a current or prospective client makes inquiries to engage or re-engage you to provide tax agent services. Otherwise, within 30 days of the event for an existing client not previously advised of the information. |
How to keep clients informed
You must provide the information required under this obligation in writing to all your current and prospective clients in a prominent, clear and unambiguous way. You may choose your preferred way to advise clients. One example of giving information to your clients in accordance with the requirements of section 45 includes:
- publishing the information on a publicly accessible website that you use to promote the tax agent services or BAS services you offer, and
- including the information in letters of engagement or re-engagement with clients, and
- providing your clients, upon engagement or re-engagement with a copy of our factsheet on general information for clients.
We note the example above is not the only way to satisfy this obligation. For example, where you do not have a publicly accessible website to promote tax agent services, you may satisfy this obligation by simply undertaking the steps in bullet points 2 and 3 above.
Further information
For detailed information about how this obligation applies, including some practical case studies, refer to TPB(I) 49/2024 Keeping your clients informed.
Helpful resources
Last modified: 23 December 2024