My Obligations under the New Code of Conduct under the Tax Practitioners Board

I am required to inform you that:

I am a registered Tax Agent (Tax Practitioner) under the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB). You can look up my registration on the Tax Practitioners Board on the TPB website at tpb.gov.au. My number is 488009.
I am under no sanctions under the TPB.
My Tax Practitioners Registration is not subject to any conditions.
The TPB welcomes all feedback which helps improve their services and the regulatory system and provides critical intelligence and data. You can provide information or make a complaint about a tax practitioner to the TPB using a simple online form at: myprofile.tpb.gov.au/complaints. See Complaints.

My obligations to you under the new Tax Practitioners Code of Conduct are to:

Act honestly and with integrity.
Uphold and promote the ethical standards of the tax profession.
Act lawfully in your best interests.
Manage any conflicts of interest.
Take reasonable care to ascertain your state of affairs and apply tax laws correctly.
Keep your information confidential unless there is a legal duty to disclose.
Provide my services to you competently.
Not knowingly obstruct the administration of the tax laws.
Advise you of your rights and obligations under the tax laws.
Account to you for money or other property on trust. But please note that I do not offer this service.
Not make false or misleading statements to the TPB or ATO, and in some cases of impropriety, withdraw from my engagement with you and notify the TPB or ATO of certain matters if they are in contravention of the Taxation Laws of Australia and are of a material nature.
Keep proper records.
Keep you informed of certain matters so you can make informed decisions.
Address any false or misleading statements that you are responsible for.
Engage with you to address false or misleading statements that have been made to the TPB or ATO and exploring options to correct.

Prescribed Events

If certain prescribed events have occurred involving me within the last 5 years, I must advise you of this.

Prescribed events are and include if the tax practitioner was:

suspended or terminated by the Board
an undischarged bankrupt or went into external administration
convicted of a serious taxation offence
convicted of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty
serving, or were sentenced to, a term of imprisonment in Australia for 6 months or more
penalised, subject to an injunction, or been subject to an order for breaching a voluntary undertaking, for being a promoter of a tax exploitation scheme
penalised, subject to an injunction, or been subject to an order for breaching a voluntary undertaking, for implementing a scheme that has been promoted on the basis of conformity with a public ruling, private ruling or oral ruling in a way that is materially different from that described in the ruling
penalised, subject to an injunction, or been subject to an order for breaching a voluntary undertaking, for promoting on the basis of conformity with a public ruling, private ruling or oral ruling a scheme that is materially different from that described in the ruling
ordered by the Federal Court to pay a pecuniary penalty for contravening a civil penalty provision under the Act

This disclosure obligation extends to prospective clients – for example, a taxpayer enquiring to engage a tax practitioner for the provision of tax agent services.

Tax practitioners are not required to disclose events that occurred before 1 July 2022.

I confirm that none of the above events have ever occurred to me or an entity related to me via Directorship or being a Shareholder.

Proof of Identity

The Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) requires that all registered tax practitioners take appropriate Proof of Identity steps prior to providing tax agent services and BAS services, and on an ongoing basis, as appropriate. Similarly, in circumstances where an individual is representing a client (including individual and non-individual clients) in engaging the registered tax practitioner (an individual representative), the registered tax practitioner must also take steps to ascertain and verify the individual representative’s identity, and the authority for the individual representative to engage the registered tax practitioner on behalf of the client.

I am required to verify your identity for the purposes of complying with the requirements of the TPB and the anti-money laundering laws. I may request from you such information as I require for these purposes and make searches of appropriate databases.

The information that shall be generally requested is:

An original or certified copy of a primary photographic identification document, or both of the following:
- an original or certified copy of a primary (eg driving licence, passport, proof of age card etc) non-photographic identification document; and
- an original or certified copy of a secondary identification document (eg council rates notice, ATO notices, Medicare Card, Electoral Roll entry etc).