Investigations into a registered tax agent’s conduct revealed dishonest acts towards the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), which included:

• backdating of advice documents of clients and attempting to mislead ASIC

• creating or modifying documents on client files after receiving a notice from ASIC

• falsely representing that clients’ documents were signed and witnessed correctly when he knew or ought to have known that they were not.

In addition, the agent did not lodge his personal returns and that of his related entities by the due dates. He also failed to pay or comply with a payment arrangement to pay the tax debts. He had further acted dishonestly by not disclosing his outstanding tax obligations in his annual declarations lodged with the Board.

The Board Conduct Committee (BCC) determined that the tax agent was no longer a fit and proper person due to his above conduct. 

The BCC terminated the agent’s registration and banned him from applying for registration for the maximum period of five years.