The Privacy Act 1988 protects the privacy of individuals and sets out the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) applicable to the collection, use and storage of personal information by Australian government agencies.

The Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) is authorised under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA) to collect personal information requested through some of our forms.

Your personal information will be used and stored in accordance with the APPs and the TPB’s Privacy Policy.

Applying to register or renew your registration

  • We are authorised by the TASA to collect the information requested for the purpose of assessing your application for registration under Part 2 of the TASA or in the case of a renewal, ensuring you continue to meet the registration requirements under Part 2 of the TASA.
  • If you do not provide the requested information in your application for registration, we may not be able to process your application.
  • If you do not provide the requested information in your renewal, you may breach the Code of Professional Conduct under Part 3 of the TASA.
  • You are not legally required to provide your tax file number (TFN). If you do not provide your valid TFN or we cannot identify you, further proof may be required and this may delay the processing of your application.
  • Where we are authorised or required by the law to do so, some of the information collected from you may be provided to:
    • other government agencies, including the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and law enforcement agencies
    • entities, such as a professional association accredited by us, if you are a member of such an association (this may involve the disclosure of information to a professional association accredited by us that is located overseas).
  • Where we are authorised under the TASA to do so and it is relevant to your registration application or renewal, we may also seek information about you from:
    • the ATO in relation to your tax obligations and/or the tax obligations of any other relevant entities associated with your application or your registration
    • any relevant third parties, including entities that may have provided documentation in support of your application
    • other government agencies.
  • Under the TASA, we must notify the Commissioner of Taxation of our decision in relation to your application for registration.
  • If you are a registered tax agent with a tax (financial) advice services condition, we may also notify ASIC of our decision  .
  • If we grant your application for registration, your details (including your name, practice name, certain contact details and any relevant professional affiliations) will appear on the TPB Register.
  • In addition, the TPB Register must include any conditions to which your registration is subject and any sanction (other than a caution) that has been imposed by us under the TASA. Under the TASA, the sanction must remain on the TPB Register for at least 12 months.
  • If the TPB terminates your registration, the TPB must include the reasons for the termination on the TPB Register for 12 months from the date the termination takes effect.
  • The TPB Register is publicly available on our website. We are required to maintain the TPB Register under section 60-135 of the TASA.

Advising us of your professional indemnity insurance details

  • We are authorised by the TASA to collect the information requested for the purpose of administering the TASA and in particular, to assess whether you meet the professional indemnity (PI) insurance requirements under the TASA.
  • If you do not provide the requested information, we may not be able to confirm that your PI insurance cover arrangements meet our requirements under the TASA.
  • Where we are authorised or required by law to do so, some of the information collected from you may be provided to:
    • other government agencies, including the ATO, ASIC and law enforcement agencies
    • entities such as a professional association accredited by us if you are a member of such an association (this may involve the disclosure of information to a professional association accredited by us that is located overseas).

Applying to employ, or use the services of a disqualified entity

  • We are authorised by the TASA to collect the information requested for the purpose of assessing your application for approval to employ, or use (or continue to use) the services of a disqualified entity to provide tax agent services on your behalf under Part 4A of the TASA.
  • If you do not provide the requested information or documentation in your application, we may not be able to process your application.
  • You are not legally required to provide your tax file number (TFN). However, if you do not provide your valid TFN or we cannot identify you, further proof may be required and this may delay the processing of your application.
  • Where we are authorised or required by the law to do so, some of the information collected from you may be provided to:
    • other government agencies, including the ATO, ASIC and law enforcement agencies.
  • Where we are authorised under the TASA to do so and it is relevant to your application, we may also seek information from:
    • the ATO, ASIC and law enforcement agencies
    • any relevant third parties
    • other government agencies.

Making a complaint or breach report

  • We will use the information collected from you as the basis for the enquiries we make, and other action we take, arising from your complaint or breach report.
  • If you do not provide the information that we request, we may be limited in the actions we can take in relation to your complaint or breach report.
  • The actions we may take are set out in the TASA and aim to ensure that tax agent and BAS services are provided to the public in accordance with appropriate standards of professional and ethical conduct.
  • Section 60-15 of the TASA allows us to do anything incidental or conducive to the performance of our functions, which includes the collection of information in relation to a complaint about conduct that may breach the TASA.
  • Subject to any confidentiality concerns you may have raised, where we are authorised or required by law to do so, some of the complaint or breach report details collected from you may be provided to:
    • the entity that you have complained about
    • other government agencies, including the ATO, ASIC and law enforcement agencies
    • other entities, such as a professional association accredited by us (this may involve the disclosure of information to a professional association accredited by us that is located overseas).
  • Subject to any confidentiality concerns you may have raised, where we are authorised under the TASA to do so and it is considered relevant to your complaint or breach report, we may also seek information about you from:
    • the entity that you have complained about
    • the ATO in relation to your taxation matters and/or the taxation matters of any other relevant entities associated with your complaint or breach report
    • other government agencies, including ASIC and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

  • Information relating to your complaint or breach report could also ultimately be used by us as evidence in litigation proceedings in the Administrative Review Tribunal* and/or the Federal Court.

    *Note: The Administrative Review Tribunal replaced the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on 14 October 2024.

  • Submitting an anonymous significant breach report to the TPB will not comply with the ‘significant breach’ of Code of Professional Conduct reporting obligation as we need to be able to identify you in order to be satisfied you have met the obligation to report. If you have concerns about confidentiality regarding your breach report, let us know. Refer to Breach reporting for more information.
  • If you are considered to be an eligible whistleblower, we will not disclose your complaint or breach report, identity or information likely to lead to your identity, unless we have your consent or it is authorised under section 14ZZW(2) of the Taxation Administration Act 1953. There may be circumstances where we disclose your complaint or breach report but not your identity (if it is reasonably necessary for the purposes of investigating misconduct, or an improper state of affairs or circumstances, to which your complaint or breach report relates). Refer to Whistleblowing legislation for more information.

Proof of identity

We require you to provide information to satisfy our proof of identity (POI) questions when contacting us or when we contact you. If you do not consent to the provision of this information, we may not be able to assist you. This information must be true and correct, as we will confirm the veracity of the information you supply with our records.

You are not legally required to provide your TFN. If you do not provide your valid TFN or we cannot identify you, further proof may be required and this may delay the processing of your application or enquiry.

The nature of the POI information we need will depend on the type of interaction you are undertaking with us and whether you are an individual or another type of entity.

If you are a registered tax practitioner, always include your registration number in your communication. This helps prevent unnecessary delays in processing your request or enquiry.

If you have appointed another person to deal with the TPB on your behalf we will require written notification of this and we will verify a request for third party representation.

Your POI questions will be from information you supplied via the TPB portal, it is important that you ensure your details are accurate and up to date.

Telephone enquiries

For any telephone enquiries, we will need to verify your identity via POI before proceeding to exchange information with you. We will refer to the information you have supplied via the TPB portal in respect of your POI or in the case of a prospective applicant the information you have supplied as part of your application.

Email communications

We will only accept email communication from your email address registered on the TPB portal when dealing with your account. For prospective applicants refer to the ‘POI for registration’ section below.

Physical mail

If you write to us we must be able to verify your POI before considering any issues contained in the correspondence, this may include a confirmation telephone call before actioning any request. We will only use the information you supplied via the TPB portal to contact you.

POI for registration

If you wish to register with us, you must complete a POI check through the Australian Government's Document Verification Service (DVS).

The DVS is a national online system that allows authorised agencies to verify certain identity documents issued by a range of Australian, State and Territory government agencies. The DVS is a secure system that matches key details from the identity documents with a government record and provides results.

The DVS is a consent based service. Online document verification by the DVS can only occur after express consent is provided by the identity document owner.

You are required to achieve 2 positively matched documents through the DVS. Should your documents not match or you do not consent to using the DVS, you must complete the POI check with us via My Profile. You will be required to upload your identity documents in the ‘Do not consent‘ page with your renewal or new registration application via My Profile. Once we process your identity check we will send you a confirmation email that your POI documents have been processed. This can take up to 72 hours.

We do not retain any of the personal information you provide through this process. All your identity document details will be deleted within 3 hours from when you enter the details regardless of whether you completed the process or not. If you stay on the POI interface page for longer than 3 hours without any activity or if you navigate away from this page, you must re-enter the information if you want to continue with your TPB application.

We will retain only the DVS enquiry ID number and transaction reference number as proof that the POI check was conducted.

For more information regarding the DVS, please visit www.dvs.gov.au

Further information

Further information about our privacy practices is available in the TPB Privacy policy.

If you have an enquiry relating to how the TPB collects, uses and stores your information, including how to access and correct your information or to make a privacy complaint, email it to privacy@tpb.gov.au or by post to:

Privacy Contact Officer
Tax Practitioners Board
Legal Unit
GPO Box 1620
SYDNEY NSW 2001

Complaints will be assessed by our Legal Unit and the outcome determined by the CEO/Secretary.

We will handle personal information security breaches in accordance with the relevant guidance issued by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Last modified: 14 October 2024