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The board found false and misleading statements of experience as well as failure to meet taxation requirements in personal affairs.
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TPB bans agent for 3 years over ‘serious misconduct’
08 June 2023
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The TPB has terminated the registration of a tax agent and banned them from reapplying for three years after its Board Conduct Committee (BCC) found multiple breaches of the Code of Professional Conduct.
An investigation by the board found that the agent breached seven items of the code, which led them to cease being a fit and proper person for the role while also no longer meeting the experience requirements for registration.
The BCC determined the agent breached code items one and two by failing to act honestly and with integrity and to comply with taxation laws in personal affairs through:
- Not declaring all reportable and assessable income in their personal income tax returns.
- Providing false and misleading information to the ATO regarding sharing of confidential taxpayer information, in allowing another individual to use their personal MyGovID to lodge BAS for two clients without authorisation.
- Not lodging personal income tax returns and BAS by their due dates.
- Failing to notify the board they had ceased to hold professional indemnity insurance.
It also found the agent had breached code items four and seven as they failed to act lawfully in the best interests of their clients and failed to ensure that the services supplied to their client were provided competently.
The BCC established that the agent also breached code items eight, 13 and 14 by:
- Failing to demonstrate they maintained knowledge and skills relevant to the tax agent services they provided in not meeting the continuing professional education requirements.
- Not providing complete responses to requests from the Board during its enquiries and investigation.
The organisation also found the agent had provided a false or misleading statement of relevant experience which declared they had completed periods of employment with a registered tax agent and had provided tax agent services for 35 hours per week when they had not and had also not completed two years equivalent of full-time relevant experience in the past five years.
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BCC said the serious and deliberate nature of the agent’s conduct, which included making false statements and providing false documents to gain tax agent registration, resulted in the three-year ban from reapplying on top of the termination.
The punishment was revealed while the TBP faces criticism for not taking further action against PwC in light of the thousands of documents it had been provided relating to the firm’s confidential tax information leaks.
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