The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) audited a tax agent’s personal income tax returns for 2017 and 2018. On notice of audit, the tax agent lodged voluntary disclosures, admitting that he had understated his income by over $350,000 in the relevant returns. Despite the voluntary disclosures, the ATO proceeded with its audit and found that the agent had understated his income by over $930,000 in the relevant returns.

This was a matter affecting the agent’s good fame, integrity and character, and the agent failed to declare it in the 2019 annual declaration of a registered company tax agent, of which he was a director.

The Board Conduct Committee (BCC) found that the tax agent had breached the Code of Professional Conduct (Code) due to the above conduct, particularly:

• Code item 1 for failing to act honestly and with integrity when lodging the annual declaration

• Code item 2 for failing to comply with tax laws in the conduct of his personal affairs

• Code item 11 for knowingly obstructing the proper administration of tax laws, by understating his income in both his original income tax returns and in voluntary disclosures lodged during the course of the audit.

The BCC found the tax agent was no longer a fit and proper person and terminated his registration, imposing a three-year ban on the agent applying for registration.