Supervisory arrangements

You must ensure tax agent services provided by you or on your behalf are provided competently. This is an obligation under the Code of Professional Conduct (Code).

To provide competent services and comply with the Code, you need to direct, oversee and check the services provided on your behalf. There doesn’t need to be an employer/employee relationship with the person performing the services to provide adequate supervision. 

Supervisory arrangements are also important in the following contexts: 

• the civil penalty provisions in the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA) – this relates to signing of declaration or statements prepared by someone who is not working under the supervision and control of a registered individual tax or BAS agent
• an individual obtaining relevant experience to register as a tax agent for the first time – individuals can demonstrate they have gained the required relevant experience by working under the supervision and control of a registered tax agent.

Signing of declarations

You will breach the civil penalty provisions in the TASA if you sign a declaration or statement required or permitted under a taxation law about your clients that was not prepared by someone working under your supervision and control.

For partnerships and companies, the declaration or statement must not be prepared by an individual who is not working under the supervision and control of a registered individual tax agent.

The penalty imposed for contravening these provisions is:

• up to 250 penalty units ($78,250) for an individual tax agent
• up to 1,250 penalty units ($391,250) for a partnership or company tax agent.

Note: The value of one penalty unit is $313 (current as at 1 July 2023 and subject to indexation).

Measures to ensure adequate supervision

You can consider adopting a range of measures to ensure there is adequate supervision and control in your practice. Below are some suggested measures:

• Inspect, advise and direct how the staff undertake their tasks. While you do not have to monitor all work or interviews conducted, you must provide a substantial degree of oversight. ‘Substantial’ means there must be ample or considerable amount of involvement and not simply checking from time to time. This will vary according to the skills and experience of the staff and the complexity of tax matters involved.
• Ensure the staff have adequate level of education and understanding of the relevant tax laws to execute the tasks they are responsible for. 
• Provide initial and ongoing training to your staff.
• Have documented procedures and processes in place so staff can raise any issues with their supervisor that are beyond their knowledge or if there have been any specific concerns raised by your clients.
• Implement quality assurance and control mechanisms and conduct audits of work undertaken by staff.
• Undertake spot checks of the source documents and questions asked by staff to justify any income and deductions declared.

Develop a supervisory plan

We strongly recommend that you develop a plan setting out the supervisory arrangements in your practice. The supervisory plan should set out processes and procedures in your practice to provide competent services and adequate supervision, covering the measures outlined above. 

The plan should help the nominated supervising tax practitioner to clearly understand what their responsibilities are and that of the staff under the plan. 

Having such a plan should help you establish the supervisory processes for your practice and also help you to comply with your Code obligations.

Remote supervisory arrangements

Remote supervisory arrangements can apply in situations where the supervisor and the staff they supervise are in different locations or employed by different entities (including in relation to outsourcing and offshoring arrangements).

The following considerations can be helpful to ensure there is adequate supervision and control in remote working arrangements in addition to the measures outlined above:

• frequency of contact and the methods of communication
• whether the supervisor is available to be contacted at all times by staff
• access to training and research resources while working remotely
• management of workflow, particularly where the supervision and control is being exercised by an unrelated entity
• how documents are to be reviewed and feedback provided to staff
• how file and document sharing logistics will be managed
• whether systems allow for audits or reviews to be carried out remotely
• whether the registered individual supervises one or more entities
• other administrative obstacles inherent with a remote supervisory arrangement.

Holding multiple supervisory roles

There may be situations where a nominated supervisor is supervising one or more related or unrelated entities. In these situations, the factors outlined above are still relevant to determine if adequate supervisory arrangements exist. Additionally, you should also consider:

• size of each entity – for example, turnover of business, number of clients, and number of relevant staff
• market segment of the client base of each entity
• type and complexity of the tax agent services being provided
• other professional duties or responsibilities of the nominated supervisor.