Relevant experience for BAS agents

If you are applying to be registered as a BAS agent, or are applying to renew your registration as a BAS agent, you will need to have sufficient relevant experience in providing BAS services.

This includes work:

• as a registered tax or BAS agent
• under the supervision and control of a registered tax or BAS agent
• of another kind approved by the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB).

Not all the work undertaken during the period in which the relevant experience was gained has to involve the actual provision of BAS services. However the ‘relevant experience’ must include substantial involvement in providing BAS services. This means that to be relevant experience for the purpose of your registration, the work must lead to, or be involved with the calculation or consideration of a BAS provision.

Most work in preparing the books and records of a business for the purposes of that business completing their BAS obligations, including their payroll obligations, would be considered appropriate relevant experience.

Work in preparing a return for a state tax obligation, such as payroll tax, is not relevant experience, however, the work in preparing the books and records will be relevant experience where it is also used to prepare a BAS return.

Period of relevant experience required

You need to have 1,400 hours of relevant experience in the past three years. However, if you are a voting member of either a recognised BAS agent association, or a recognised tax agent association then you need to have only 1,000 hours of relevant experience in the past three years

Demonstrating relevant experience

A BAS agent Statement of relevant experience form will need to be completed and attached to the application for registration as an individual BAS agent, or for renewal of registration as an individual BAS agent.

The information contained in the statement should provide evidence of your substantial involvement in one or more types of BAS services.

‘Substantial’ in this context means that of an ample or considerable quantity.

Completing a Statement of relevant experience

You need to provide a Statement of relevant experience form signed by your supervising registered tax practitioner. If this cannot be obtained, you may provide a statement signed by your employer or a statutory declaration from you detailing the BAS services provided and the reasons you were unable to obtain a Statement of relevant experience together with independent verification of your experience.

If you believe that you have relevant experience of ‘another kind’, then you should make a written submission to the TPB as part of your application for registration or renewal.

Experience of ‘another kind’ recognises experience which has provided you with a robust and thorough understanding of BAS provisions. This might be experience which is not directly gained as a BAS agent but might have been accumulated in this field. It might include work as a training or IT consultant or as an academic teacher. The TPB will need to consider any submission you make about your experience before it makes a decision about your individual circumstances.

Independent verification

Independent verification may include a reference from a registered tax practitioner or references from two people, such as two clients, who are in a position to know what and how much experience you possess. If you are providing a statutory declaration it would assist us if you also provide independent verification from a colleague or other person who is in a position to comment on your experience. As the verification must be independent it should not be provided by family members.

Relevant experience of partners and directors of entities that registered using the transitional arrangements

If you are a partner or director of an entity that gained registration under the transitional arrangements and are applying for individual registration, then any BAS service you provided as a partner or director of that registered BAS agent may be considered as work ‘of another kind approved by the Board’.  This will be the case provided the service includes substantial involvement in one or more types of BAS services described in the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA).

You need to provide:

• a Statement of relevant experience form that you may complete and sign yourself
• independent verification of your experience.

Renewing your registration

Any experience you have gained since your initial registration may count as relevant experience when you apply for renewal of registration, provided that the experience gained included substantial involvement in one or more types of BAS services described in the TASA.

You need to provide a Statement of relevant experience form which you may complete and sign yourself.

If you wish to provide evidence of experience gained before you obtained registration as a BAS agent, then you will need to provide a statement, completed and signed by your supervising tax agent or BAS agent for the period before your registration.

If you gained registration by notifying the Board to become registered you will also need to provide some independent verification of your experience, which directly specifies your competency in providing BAS services.