TPB eNews -Â March 2018 - General edition

Message from the Chair

As today marks the eighth anniversary of the establishment of the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB), I thought that it might be opportune to reflect on those eight years.

The TPB commenced operations on 1 March 2010 as an independent statutory body created under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA) to register and regulate entities providing tax agent services in Australia.

In 2010 there were approximately 26,000 registered tax practitioners, comprised solely of tax agents. These practitioners were transitioned to the TPB regime on 1 March 2010.

Eight years on, over 76,800 tax practitioners are now registered with the TPB. This includes more than 42,100 tax agents, 15,650 BAS agents and 19,100 tax (financial) advisers.

Over this time, Australian tax practitioners have responded well to the regulatory environment and to the challenge of rapidly evolving business practices.

I am pleased to say that more than 99 per cent of tax practitioners are compliant with their obligations under the TASA and the Code of Professional Conduct.

I shared some insights from a review of the more than 11,000 compliance cases the TPB has considered in the first eight years of operations, at the Australasian Tax Teachers Association Conference at Monash University in January this year. This also included the outcomes and learnings from several Federal Court and numerous Administrative Appeals Tribunal matters the TPB has been involved in.

As we enter our ninth year we have made submissions to government reviews and initiatives currently underway or planned, that will impact the TPB and tax and BAS agents. These include the:

Black Economy Taskforce led by the Treasury – which highlighted key areas of concern regarding compliance with the tax system, and outlined proposed changes to the environment in which tax practitioners operate.
Inspector-General of Taxation (IGT) review into the future of the tax profession – outlining the opportunities and challenges the tax practitioner profession is facing in the short, medium and long term.

The work of the Black Economy Taskforce and its particular focus on tax practitioners represents an opportunity for us to position the TPB as a ‘key player’ in the government regulation environment and we have made submissions accordingly.

We also await the outcome of the IGT review into the future of the tax profession. In our submission to this review we said that the tax practitioner profession currently faces a number of opportunities and challenges as a result of:

technological change
globalisation
client demand for a wider range of services and ‘real-time’ online responses, and
generational change.

We have made it clear that a focus on effective consultation and stakeholder engagement with tax practitioners will be required accordingly. The TPB will continue to provide support to registered practitioners in coping with any changes as a result of these reviews. We will keep you updated on the outcomes.

Ian R Taylor
Chair, Tax Practitioners Board

Notifiable Data Breaches scheme

The Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) scheme, administered by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) came into effect on 22 February 2018. This scheme requires organisations covered by the Privacy Act to notify the OAIC and affected individuals of eligible data breaches, for example, unauthorised access, loss or disclosure of personal information that could cause serious harm to the affected individual. It is important that all practitioners are aware of their potential responsibilities under this scheme.

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