With the establishment of the Single Disciplinary Body for financial advisers, as of 1 January 2022 the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) no longer regulates tax (financial) advisers.
The provision of tax (financial) advice services will, however, still be regulated either by the TPB or the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
If you are not a financial adviser (for example, you provide advice to wholesale clients only), you will need to consider registering as a tax agent (individual, company or partnership) with the TPB to legally provide tax (financial) advice services.
Registration options
The following scenarios should help you understand how you can legally continue to provide tax (financial) advice services.
| Scenario | What you need to do | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | An individual who provides wholesale advice only, who was registered as a tax (financial) adviser as at 31 December 2021. | You must be registered as a tax agent* with the TPB. While your registration as a tax (financial) adviser with the TPB ceased on 1 January 2022, you were operating under a transitional arrangement that allowed you to continue providing tax (financial) advice services for a fee between 1 January and 31 December 2022. For further information about the requirements to register with the TPB, see Registering as an individual tax agent to provide tax (financial) advice services. |
| 2 | An individual who provides wholesale advice only, who is currently registered as a tax agent. | You do not need to do anything further. You can continue to provide tax (financial) advice services for a fee. |
| 3 | A company or partnership that provides wholesale advice only, that was registered as a tax (financial) adviser as at 31 December 2021. | The company or partnership must either be:
If the company or partnership meets one of the above requirements, it can legally provide tax (financial) advice services to wholesale clients. While your registration as a tax (financial) adviser with the TPB ceased on 1 January 2022, you were operating under transitional arrangement that allowed your company or partnership to continue to provide tax (financial) advice services for a fee between 1 January - 31 December 2022. For further information about the requirements to register with the TPB, refer to Registering as a company or partnership tax agent. |
| 4 | A company or partnership that provides wholesale advice only, that is currently registered as a tax agent. | You do not need to do anything further. Your company or partnership can continue to provide tax (financial) advice services for a fee. |
Registration pathways for individuals
To register as an individual tax agent to provide tax (financial) advice services only, you will need to meet certain eligibility requirements and select a pathway for registration. The Tax Agent Services Regulations 2022 (TASR) include 4 new pathways to enable persons to register with us as tax agents:
- Registration under Item 207 – Tertiary qualifications
- Registration under Item 208 – Diploma or higher award
- Registration under Item 209 – Work experience
- Registration under Item 210 – Membership of a professional association
If your application to register as a tax agent is granted, we may impose a condition that you can only provide tax (financial) advice services.
For further information about the requirements to register with the TPB, see Registering as an individual tax agent to provide tax (financial) advice services.
Registration pathway for companies or partnerships
To register as a company or partnership tax agent to provide tax (financial) advice services only, you will need to meet the relevant eligibility requirements. One of those requirements is to have a sufficient number of registered individual tax agents to provide tax (financial) advice services and supervision on behalf of the entity. In determining the sufficient number, we may also consider the number of qualified tax relevant providers within your company or partnership who provide tax (financial) advice services.
These individual tax agent(s) forming the sufficient number may include those with a condition of providing tax (financial) advice services only. However, if the company or partnership only uses these conditional individual tax agent(s), we may also impose a condition on the company’s or partnership’s registration to provide tax (financial) advice services only.
For further information about the requirements to register with the TPB, refer to Registering as a company or partnership tax agent.
* Note: Where asterisked (*), the term ‘tax agent’ is used in this content to refer to those with no condition on their registration or those with a condition on their registration to provide only tax (financial) advice services.
Last modified: 22 February 2024