A tax agent has had their registration terminated after the Board Conduct Committee (BCC) found multiple breaches of the Code of Professional Conduct (Code). Our investigation revealed the agent breached Code items 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 13 and 14. The agent also ceased to be a fit and proper person and did not meet the relevant experience requirements for registration.

The BCC determined the agent breached Code items 1 and 2 by failing to act honestly and with integrity and to comply with the taxation laws in the conduct of their personal affairs, by:

• not declaring all reportable and assessable income in their personal income tax returns (ITRs), including income derived from the provision of tax agent services

• providing false and misleading information to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) regarding sharing of confidential taxpayer information, in allowing another individual to use their personal MyGovID credentials to lodge business activity statements (BAS) for 2 clients without authorisation. 

• not lodging ITRs and BAS by their due dates

• failing to notify the us that they had ceased to hold professional indemnity (PI) insurance.

The agent breached Code items 4 and 7 by failing to act lawfully in the best interest of their clients and to ensure the services they provided were provided competently. They failed to:

• ensure the security and integrity of their MyGovID credentials, resulting in fraudulent BAS being lodged without the knowledge and authorisation of clients

• supervise the preparation and lodgement of BAS for clients, resulting in the ATO amending their BAS to nil at audit as there was no evidence the clients were carrying on a business.

The agent was also found to have breached Code items 8, 13 and 14, by: 

• failing to demonstrate that they maintained knowledge and skills relevant to the tax agent services they provided in not meeting the continuing professional education requirements

• failing to maintain PI insurance 

• not providing complete responses to requests from the Board during its enquiries and investigation. 

As a result, the BCC determined the agent ceased to be a fit and proper person as they:

• engaged in conduct that breached multiple Code provisions

• made false statements and provided false documents to gain tax agent registration, when they knew or ought to have known that they did not have the relevant experience to meet the registration requirements

• provided a Statement of relevant experience (SRE) that declared they had completed periods of employment with a registered tax agent where they did not declare any income for the income years that they declared they were employed.

In finding the agent did not meet the relevant experience requirements for registration, the BCC found they:

• provided a false or misleading SRE in support of their registration application when they declared they were employed by a registered tax agent and had provided tax agent services for 35 hours per week, when they had not

• did not complete 2 years equivalent of full-time relevant experience in the past 5 years.

Due to the serious and deliberate nature of the agent’s conduct, the BCC also banned them from re-applying for registration for 3 years.