Login
iscover
A tax agent who engaged in unprofessional and threatening conduct towards ATO and TPB officers has been denied a stay on his registration termination.
Tax agent who told ATO officer to commit ‘suicide’ disqualified
05 February 2021
•
7 minute read
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has refused Sarwat McGuid’s application to stay the Tax Practitioners Board’s decision to terminate his tax agent registration.
You’re out of free articles for this month
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
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”.
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.
You need to be a member to post comments. Become a member for free today!
- Some ATO Officers are difficult. Use the right channels to lodge protests.0
- The ATO does drive one to pull their hair out but to threaten like that is unprofessional.0
- He is an idiot for emailing. If you want to give the ATO a spray it’s best to do it over the phone.0
- Hmm, maybe not. They record calls. Best to be professional and take your frustration out in healthier ways.0
- For some strange and inexplicable reason, as Adam Smith observed, the revenue officers of the Crown are a naturally unpopular and often insolent race of men while "vexatious inquisitions" are never welcome but we must blame ourselves for electing members of Parliament who vote these oppressive tax laws rather than collecting the hereditary land revenues of the Crown - so it behooves us to be courteous to those charged with the duty of collecting our voted "aids, gifts and subsidies" to the Crown's revenues from our pockets.0
- That is one very long sentence, Terry. You lost me half way through.0
- Not up to Gibbon’s Ciceronian periods, I am afraid!0
- It was sort of making sense up to the word parliament0
- The ATO and the TPB level of service is in itself unprofessional. These are bodies that need a wake up call when it comes to customer service. I would concur with his comments that they're just here to drive people out of business. His termination is justifiable on his behaviour,(no argument) but termination based on his comments I would say they deserve it .0
- So telling someone to commit suicide is justifiable is it? Your comments are not appropriate.
What should the ATO do? Ignore the law, simply let tax payers not pay tax? Am sure you like to drive on roads, have the police turn up when needed, have access to quality schooling etc. You should talk to someone from say South Africa, where no one pay taxes, as to how lucky we are to live in Australia - to have so many free services that are paid for and maintained by the government. Pretty sure none of these are possible without paying tax.
This tax agent has many clients who have required amended assessments - clearly he is incompetent or simply disregards the law. You should be cheering that people like this are removed from the tax agent pool, rather than backing up his comments.0- They are not “free” services. You said we pay for them, and some pay a lot more than others. The rating system for land values is a better method of getting contributions for benefits conferred.0
- You must be a public servant. Bit hypocritical when you respond to a comment in a hyper emotional state0
- has he been treated for mental health issues..?0
- That's appalling behaviour - I don't want someone in our profession who feels that is appropriate conduct, or who isn't prepared to play by the rules. He obviously "gets good refunds" which would sway clients to him, but it puts pressure on the rest of us also...not a level playing field!0
- Words are hard to find but "not the sharpest tool in the shed" comes to mind.0
- Agree wholeheartedly with this outcome - we all get it wrong sometimes but the scale of the problem noted and the reaction fired back is unprofessional.0
