Message from the Chair
The introduction of the new tax agent services regime has brought about changes that strengthen and improve the tax system. A wider range of entities which provide tax agent services, including BAS services, must become registered. The regime also implements a new Code of Professional Conduct, which allows the Board greater power to sanction breaches of the Code. New safe harbour provisions, administered by the Tax Office, provide taxpayers who engage a registered tax agent or BAS agent with greater protection. In some circumstances, penalties may no longer apply to taxpayers whose agents do not take proper care.
Recently I had the opportunity to attend the Reckon Accredited Partner Conference in Queensland, where I made a speech to the attendees consisting mainly of BAS professionals. This was a good opportunity to speak with and to find out the issues that may be of concern to them. A copy of my speech is provided on this website. I encourage you to read it as it provides an overview of the new law, and covers relevant information such as transitional registration for BAS agents, what the Board looks at when determining whether a person is fit and proper, and information about prescribed qualifications and relevant experience.
Consultation with tax agents and BAS agents about new requirements that affect them is important to the Board. Over the next few weeks we will be publishing material on this website dealing with a number of professional practice issues and educational requirements. You will have 60 days to provide feedback to the Board. Comments provided during this consultation period will be considered by the Board prior to determining its final position. Please take the time to consider these exposure drafts.
Exposure drafts to be released:
· Fit and proper
· Code of Professional Conduct
· What is a course in Australian taxation law.
We will also be endeavouring to provide information about courses in commercial law, accounting courses and on GST/BAS taxation principles as soon as possible.
I would like to highlight the two transitional options available to BAS agents that simplify their entry into the new regime. The transitional arrangements allow entities to notify or apply to register, with minimal impact to the day to day operation of their businesses. I encourage entities to use the transitional notification route for BAS services rather than the formal application process while it is still available (from 1 March to 31 August 2010). There is no difference to the registration outcome between those who notify and those that apply to be registered, but there are advantages in using the notification route.
Provided you meet standard registration requirements, the transitional notification process (special rule 5) allows BAS service providers to notify the Board using the online notification form You will not be charged a fee to notify in this way. Provided you meet certain criteria, you will be taken to be registered as a BAS agent for two years effective from 1 March 2010. Therefore, you can continue to provide a BAS service from day one of the new law, if you notify using this rule. You will then have two years to meet qualification and relevant experience requirements.
The transitional registration application process (special rule 14) for BAS agents has some distinct differences to the notification method. One of the main differences to the notification method is that you will have three years from the commencement of the new law from 1 March 2010 before you need to apply for renewal of your registration. On application, your registration as a BAS agent will only commence from the date the Board grants your registration. Registration is not backdated to the day the law commenced. This means if you apply for this form of registration that that you cannot legally provide a BAS service for a fee between 1 March 2010, and the day your application is granted. Doing so would open you up to a potential civil penalty liability.
Under this method of application you are not required to have already met the qualification and relevant experience requirements, but you must have been providing BAS services to a competent standard for a reasonable period before 1 March 2010. Standard registration requirements apply.
Our ‘contact us’ facility on this website has received a few enquiries where people are seeking guidance about filling out their registration form. Where the question asks 'are you a member of a recognised professional association?' our advice has been that applicants should, if this is the basis on which they are applying, indicate when filling out the form that recognition of their association is pending. As at 26 March 2010 the Board is considering a number of applications for recognition of Associations, but none have been formally recognised as yet. We hope to complete this process as soon as possible.
Our website remains the source of the latest information. Look out for exposure drafts and some new information sheets in the coming weeks. You might be interested to know that over the first three weeks of the new regime the most accessed content has consistently been the BAS agent online notification form and the tax agents register. We have had 2128 online BAS notifications submitted to date. We have also been receiving your tax agent registration forms and re-registration forms. The Board has commenced processing applications. You will find all of the forms on the Board’s website www.tpb.gov.au
Dale Boucher
Chair, Tax Practitioners Board
29 March 2010