The grounds for termination of registration depend on whether you are registered as an individual, partnership or company tax agent or BAS agent (collectively referred to as tax practitioners).
If you are registered as an individual tax practitioner, we may terminate your registration if:
- any of the following events affecting registration occur:
- you are convicted of a serious taxation offence
- you are convicted of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty
- you are penalised for being a promoter of a tax exploitation scheme
- you are penalised for implementing a scheme that has been promoted on the basis of conformity with a product ruling in a way that is materially different from that described in the product ruling
- you become an undischarged bankrupt
- you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment
- you cease to meet one of the tax practitioner registration requirements
- you breach a condition of your registration (if we imposed a condition on your registration)
- you breach the Code of Professional Conduct.
We must terminate your registration if:
- you surrender your registration by written notice unless we consider that, due to a current investigation or the outcome of an investigation, it would be inappropriate to terminate your registration
- you die.
For more information on registration requirements refer to:
Note: A failure to comply with a written notice is a breach of the Code.
If you are registered as a company tax practitioner, we may terminate the registration if:
- any of the following events affecting registration occur:
- the company is convicted of a serious taxation offence
- the company is convicted of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty
- the company is penalised for being a promoter of a tax exploitation scheme
- the company is penalised for implementing a scheme that has been promoted on the basis of conformity with a product ruling in a way that is materially different from that described in the product ruling
- the company goes into external administration.
- the company ceases to meet one of the tax practitioner registration requirements
- the company breaches a condition of registration (if we imposed a condition on registration)
- the company breaches the Code of Professional Conduct (Code).
We must terminate the registration of a company if:
- it surrenders its registration by written notice unless we consider that, due to a current investigation or the outcome of an investigation, it would be inappropriate to terminate the company's registration
- it ceases to exist.
We may, by written notice, require a company to remove a director from the board of directors of the company if any of the following events affecting registration occur in respect of that director:
- the director is convicted of a serious taxation offence
- the director is convicted of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty
- the director is penalised for being a promoter of a tax exploitation scheme
- the director is penalised for implementing a scheme that has been promoted on the basis of conformity with a product ruling in a way that is materially different from that described in the product ruling
- the director becomes an undischarged bankrupt
- the director is sentenced to a term of imprisonment.
Note: A failure to comply with a written notice is a breach of the Code.
For more information on registration requirements refer to either:
If you are registered as a partnership tax practitioner, we may terminate your registration if:
- the partnership ceases to meet one of the tax practitioner registration requirements
- the partnership breaches a condition of registration (if we imposed a condition on registration)
- the partnership breaches the Code of Professional Conduct (Code).
We must terminate the registration of a partnership if it surrenders its registration by written notice unless we consider that, due to a current investigation or the outcome of an investigation, it would be inappropriate to terminate the partnership's registration.
We may, by written notice, require a partnership to remove a partner from the partnership if any of the following events affecting registration occur in respect of that partner:
- the partner is convicted of a serious taxation offence
- the partner is convicted of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty
- the partner is penalised for being a promoter of a tax exploitation scheme
- the partner is penalised for implementing a scheme that has been promoted on the basis of conformity with a product ruling in a way that is materially different from that described in the product ruling
- the partner becomes an undischarged bankrupt or goes into external administration
- the partner is sentenced to a term of imprisonment.
If any one of the above events occurs in relation to a director of a company that is a partner in the partnership, we may, by written notice, require either:
- the removal of the partner from the partnership
- the company to remove the director.
Note: A failure to comply with a written notice is a breach of the Code.
For more information on registration requirements refer to:
Notice of termination
If we decide to terminate your registration, we will send you a written termination notice within 30 days of our decision. The termination notice will include:
- our decision to terminate your registration
- the reasons for the decision
- details of any period during which you are prohibited from applying for registration
- your rights of review.
If you do not receive the written notice our decision is still valid and your registration will still be terminated.
Effects of termination
Termination takes effect on the day specified in the termination notice. From this date, you will no longer be registered. The day specified in the notice must be at least 28 days after the date of the notice.
If the termination notice specifies a period during which you are prohibited from applying for registration, you cannot make a new application for registration within that period.
The maximum period of prohibition from applying for registration is five years. This does not apply if registration was terminated because you surrendered your registration, you became an undischarged bankrupt; or you went into external administration.
If you are unregistered, you must not:
provide tax or BAS services for a fee or other reward
advertise that you will provide tax or BAS services
represent that you are a registered tax or BAS agent.
If you are unregistered with the TPB or the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), you must not:
provide tax (financial) advice services for a fee or other reward
advertise that you will provide tax (financial) advice services.
Civil penalties of up to $78,250 (250 penalty units) for an individual, or $391,250 (1,250 penalty units) for a body corporate, may apply under the civil penalty provisions in the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA).
Entities that employ a deregistered tax practitioner or use their services to provide a tax agent service within 12 months of them becoming deregistered may also be subject to a civil penalty, except if the deregistered tax practitioner was terminated because they surrendered their registration, became an undischarged bankrupt or went into external administration.
We will notify the Commissioner of Taxation of our decision to terminate your registration and the reasons for our decision.
Notice of our decision to terminate registration will also be published in the Government Notices Gazette and, in certain circumstances, recorded on our TPB Register. The record will remain on the register for 5 years from the day on which your registration was terminated.
Your rights of review
You may apply to the Administrative Review Tribunal* for a review if we decide to:
- terminate your registration
- determine a period during which you are prohibited from applying for registration
- not terminate your registration when you surrender your registration.
For further information about your rights of review, refer to Reviewable decisions - administrative appeals.
*Note: The Administrative Review Tribunal replaced the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on 14 October 2024.
Last modified: 14 October 2024