1. Overview
As a taxpayer, it is important that you:
- Are aware of your obligations to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
- Understand that your tax agent also has obligations to the ATO and the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB)
2. Your Obligations
It's your responsibility as a taxpayer to:
- Be truthful with the information you provide us
- Keep the required records and provide them us on a timely basis, as required
- Be co-operative with our requests and meet required due dates
- Be compliant with tax laws
3. If you do not meet your obligations as a client
- The ATO may impose administrative penalties and fines
- Interest charges may be applied
- In some cases, criminal prosecutions may be sought
- The ATO may initiate debt recovery
4. What's required of us
Our obligations require us to:
- Act honestly and with integrity
- Uphold and promote the ethical standards of the tax profession
- Act lawfully in your best interests
- Manage any conflicts of interest
- Take reasonable care to ascertain your state of affairs and apply tax laws correctly
- Keep your information confidential unless there is a legal duty to disclose
- Provide services competently
- Not knowingly obstruct the administration of the tax laws
- Advise you of your rights and obligations under the tax laws
- Account to you for money or other property on trust
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Not make false or misleading statements to the TPB or ATO, and in some cases withdraw their engagement with you and notify the TPB or ATO of
certain matters
- Keep proper records
- Keep you informed of certain matters so you can make informed decisions
- Address any false or misleading statements we are responsible for
- Engage with clients to address other false or misleading statements, exploring options to correct
5. If we fail to meet our obligations
- Our registration can be suspended or terminated, meaning we can't practice
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We could receive written cautions or orders from the TPB to undertake education or work under the supervision of another registered tax
agent
- Fines could be imposed by the Federal Court
- In the case of fraud or criminality, penalties may lead to prosecutions
6. We must keep you informed of certain matters
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If certain prescribed events have occurred involving the tax agent within the last 5 years or the tax agent registration is subject to
conditions, we must advise you of this at the time you make enquiries or engage/re-engage for the provision of tax agent services.
Otherwise we must notify you within 30 days of us becoming aware of any prescribed events or conditions on the registration.
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You can access and search the TPB Register to verify registration details of Tax and BAS agents at https://myprofile.tpb.gov.au/public-register/
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If you would like to make a complaint, please do not hesitate to contact us first to discuss a resolution. Should you not be satisfied with
the proposed resolution, you can make a complaint to the TPB using a simple online form https://www.tpb.gov.au/complaints
