Following our investigation, the Board Conduct Committee (BCC) has terminated the registration of a tax agent and banned them from applying for registration for a period of 4 years. The BCC determined that they are no longer a fit and proper person to be registered. An investigation into the tax agent found they had committed multiple serious breaches of the Code of Professional Conduct (Code). 

The BCC found that the tax agent breached the Code by engaging in the following conduct:

Making false statements 

Investigations revealed the tax agent breached Code item 1 when they made false statements in multiple annual declarations and applications for renewal. 

These false statements included repeated declarations that they did not have outstanding personal tax obligations when in fact they had outstanding returns and tax debts. The tax agent also provided false and misleading responses to Board enquiries about their: 

• invoicing practices and control over a bank account that was used to receive fees from clients

• working relationship with two tax agents that had previously had their registrations terminated. 

The BCC also found that the tax agent breached Code item 1 when they did not act honestly and with integrity, by enabling terminated tax agents to access their tax agent registration number and tax agent portal to provide tax agent services to clients without adequate supervision and control. 

Non-compliance with personal tax obligations 

The tax agent also breached Code item 2 when they failed to ensure that they, and their related entities, complied with personal tax obligations. In particular, the tax agent failed to lodge their own income tax returns (ITR) and business activity statements (BAS) by their due dates. In addition, in their capacity as a director, the tax agent also caused companies and a corporate trustee of a self-managed superannuation fund to fail to lodge ITRs and BAS and pay superannuation guarantee charge debts when they fell due.  

Incompetent services 

In addition, the BCC found that the tax agent breached Code item 7 by failing to ensure that competent tax agent services were provided on their behalf to their clients. Without exercising adequate supervision and control, the tax agent allowed a terminated tax agent to lodge amended BAS for their client, which reported incorrect amounts for the sole purpose of obtaining Cash Flow Boost payments from the Australian Taxation Office that the client was not entitled to receive. 

Obstructing tax laws 

Finally, the tax agent breached Code item 11 when they knowingly obstructed the proper administration of the tax laws. They enabled an entity, whose tax agent registration they knew to have been terminated by the Board, to access their tax agent registration number and tax agent portal to continue to provide tax agent services to clients without supervision and control. 

Outcome 

The BCC considered the serious, deliberate and repeated nature of the tax agent’s conduct and concluded that this demonstrated a lack of integrity and disregard for their professional and ethical obligations under the Code and other tax laws. The BCC determined that the tax agent was no longer a fit and proper person and decided to terminate their registration and prohibit them from applying for registration for a period of 4 years.