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Changes include listing practitioners’ past names and more details of misconduct issues, sanctions and matters under consideration by tribunals or courts.
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TPB revamps public register to protect consumers
16 August 2024
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The Tax Practitioners Board has revamped its public register in a bid to improve transparency and help consumers make more informed choices about practitioners before engaging them.
Changes to the register include past names, matters being considered by tribunals or courts, and extending the time integrity and misconduct issues, as well as TPB sanctions, are displayed.
“Our public register has been enhanced to better support consumers and registered tax practitioners,” the TPB said in a statement on Thursday.
“The register’s enhanced information and functionality will help promote those doing the right thing and maintain a level playing field for all with high levels of integrity in the tax profession.”
“In addition, the improvements present consumers of tax practitioner services with the opportunity for increased protection, as they will now be able to more easily find registered tax practitioners they can trust.”
The TPB said its updated register formed part of the government’s broader reform agenda and implemented recommendations from an independent review of the TPB led by tax lawyer Keith James in 2019.
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The James review said the public register was one of the TPB’s primary tools in protecting consumers, but its effectiveness was hampered by only publishing limited information.
While it included details on a practitioner’s registration status, including periods of effect and reasons for sanctions, disqualification and termination, the reasons included were “fairly general” in nature, the review found.
For instance, the register would state an “individual no longer meets registration requirements” without further explanation.
It recommended publishing additional information on registered and unregistered practitioners and publishing a wider range of decisions and outcomes.
“Currently there is no way for the public to know if someone has engaged in unregistered practice. Publishing known unregistered practitioners provides transparency to other practitioners, firms and the community, with a view to limiting their prevalence,” the review said.
“Repeated sanctions, sanctions for unregistered practice and more serious sanctions should be made publicly available.”
Another recommendation was the removal of time limits on how long certain information appears on the register. It said sanctions only being visible for up to 12 months could allow de-registered practitioners to re-enter the profession without full disclosure of their past misconduct.
The TPB said the revamped register included past names, more detailed information about any integrity or misconduct issues and TPB sanctions imposed (which will now appear for longer) and details of matters being considered by tribunals or the courts.
Greater transparency of unregistered preparers would also be included without the creation of a separate, dedicated register as recommended by the James review.
The TPB said unregistered preparers, often lacking proper qualifications or training, have been known to lure clients with promises of unrealistically large tax refunds.
“Unregistered preparers are often unqualified, poorly trained and many are essentially scammers. By using an unregistered preparer, consumers are exposing themselves to risk,” it said.
“Anyone using the services of a tax practitioner this tax time, or considering engaging a new one, is urged to check the TPB register. This will ensure they are seeking advice from people that have the right qualifications, training and experience.”
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