 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 19,100 tax (financial) advisers who started to join the regime in July 2014.
On 31 January, the TPB passed a significant milestone, with the end of transitional arrangements for tax (financial) advisers. From now on, all tax (financial) advisers need to meet the standard requirements for registration.
We enter our ninth year with a significantly increased workload. Tax (financial) adviser renewal requirements may impact on the service standards we have previously achieved for application processing and this will continue to be a real challenge for us in 2018.
Government reviews and initiatives currently underway or planned, that will impact the TPB and tax practitioners include the:
- Black Economy Taskforce led by the Treasury
- Inspector-General of Taxation (IGT) review into the future of the tax profession.
In our submissions to these reviews and initiatives 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.
Renewal update
Over 13,000 tax (financial) advisers have submitted their renewal applications since July 2017. While we have made significant inroads into processing these renewals, it will still take some time for us to process this volume of applications.
Remember you remain registered with the TPB and can continue to provide services for a fee until we decide on your renewal application. If we require additional information from you, we will contact you via the details you provided in your renewal application. If your contact details change, you can update them via MyProfile.
There were a large number of tax (financial) advisers, approximately 6,000, who did not renew their registration by the deadline of 31 January. We have written to these entities to advise that they:
- must cease providing tax advice related to the financial services (tax (financial) advice services) for a fee or reward, and
- will need to lodge a new registration application if they wish to provide tax (financial) advice services for a fee or reward in the future. They cannot legally provide tax (financial) advice services until the new application is decided.
Significant penalties apply for advertising and providing tax (financial) services for a fee while unregistered.
Ian R Taylor
Chair, Tax Practitioners Board
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