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A tax agent who engaged in unprofessional and threatening conduct towards ATO and TPB officers has been denied a stay on his registration termination.
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Tax agent who told ATO officer to commit ‘suicide’ disqualified
05 February 2021
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The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has refused Sarwat McGuid’s application to stay the Tax Practitioners Board’s decision to terminate his tax agent registration.
Mr McGuid, the sole director of S&T Income Tax Aid Specialists Pty Ltd and S&M Income Tax Aid Specialists Pty Ltd, had his registration terminated for failing to meet the TPB’s requirement of being a fit and proper person.
The TPB told the tribunal that 82 of Mr McGuid’s clients had been subject to amended assessments to income tax totalling over $280,000, with shortfall penalties of close to $75,000 for overclaimed work-related expenses. Of those clients, 26 had also been audited directly by the ATO.
Mr McGuid, who had previously succeeded in securing a stay against the termination of S&T Income Tax Aid Specialists Pty Ltd, was also heard to have breached a condition of the stay by engaging two new clients.
The AAT also heard that Mr McGuid had engaged in “threatening, obstructive and unprofessional” conduct towards ATO and TPB officers.
An example drawn out by AAT senior member Gina Lazanas revealed that Mr McGuid had emailed an ATO officer to express his discontent with audit cases, writing, “You left me no alternative but to defend my staff against your all evil plans and thoughts, you should commit Hara Kiri, we are in Australia”.
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The tribunal also heard that Mr McGuid had emailed another ATO officer, writing, “As if the ATO has nothing to do but kill, kill, kill”, and then threatened to raise the matter with the Treasurer of the Commonwealth at his “next... personal meeting” with him.
In refusing to grant a stay on his registration termination, Ms Lazanas said Mr McGuid’s repeated failures to provide competent services when acting on behalf of taxpayer clients and his lack of remorse weighed against him.
“I agree with the [TPB’s] contentions that Mr McGuid’s repeated failure to uphold the requisite standards of professional and competent practice, his lack of contrition and his failure to appreciate the significance of his acts and omissions demonstrate a real risk of further non-compliance,” Ms Lazanas said.
“Those failures were exacerbated by Mr McGuid’s acceptance of new clients contrary to the express undertaking given by S&T to the Tribunal in support of the stay granted by the Tribunal [in the 2019 hearing].
“The public interest in maintaining community confidence in registered tax agents, and in preserving the authority of the Tribunal, strongly point in favour of the Tribunal refusing a stay.”
Mr McGuid’s disqualification runs until 8 April 2023, but he has since lodged a review of the decision.
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