Following a referral from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the Board Conduct Committee (BCC) investigated the conduct of a registered tax agent. The referral included serious allegations that the tax agent had illegally accessed the tax information of a company when he had ceased to be a director of the company and was not authorised by the company’s liquidator to do so. The findings from our investigations are highlighted below.

Acting without authority

Investigations revealed some serious misconduct of the tax agent, including:

• lodging a form with Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) when he had already ceased to be a director of the company and had not been authorised by the company’s liquidator to do so

• creating a tax agent link in ATO records to the company and accessing taxation information of the company on two occasions when he was not authorised by the liquidator to do so. 

Non-compliance with personal tax obligations

The Board Conduct Committee (BCC) also found that the agent had failed in his role as a company director to ensure that the company:

• lodged four income tax returns by the due dates

• lodged 11 business activity statements by the due date

• paid outstanding tax debts as and when they fell due.

The agent also claimed income tax credits that the company was not entitled to claim.

In addition, the tax agent failed to disclose the outstanding tax obligations of the company in his three annual declarations lodged with the Board.

Decision

The above findings led the BCC to determine that the agent had breached Code of Professional Conduct items 1 and 2. Further, it determined that the tax agent was no longer a fit and proper person and therefore had ceased to meet a tax practitioner registration requirement.  

Terminating the tax agent’s registration, the BCC also prohibited the agent from applying for registration for five years.