Changes were introduced by the government to implement recommendations arising from a 2019 independent review into the effectiveness of the TPB and the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA) and other government reforms to restore public trust and confidence in the regulation of the tax profession. The reforms outline additional information that must now be included on the TPB Register, so consumers can make an informed choice about tax practitioners prior to engaging them to provide tax agent or BAS services.
We will only publish a decision to reject a registration application if it has been rejected for integrity grounds because the applicant does not meet the fit and proper person requirements. This includes (but is not limited to) if the entity has been convicted of a serious taxation offence, or an offence involving fraud or dishonesty.
The publication of decisions to reject applications for registration is also limited to certain circumstances, such as where the applicant was previously registered within the previous 5 year period, or was required to be on the TPB Register due to a Federal Court application, order, injunction, or other court findings and decisions.
We will include this information on the TPB register for a period of 5 years from the date of the rejection decision if the decision was made on or after 1 July 2022.
Any sanction (other than a written caution) that took effect on or after 1 July 2022 will appear on the TPB Register for the longer of 5 years, or the period the sanction is in force.
Historical legal names, registration numbers and details of the relevant findings are required to be published on the TPB Register in the following circumstances:
- if you received a sanction (i.e. an order, suspension or termination) which took effect on or after 1 July 2022 and it is still in force, or within 5 years of the date of effect
- if you had an application for renewal rejected on integrity grounds on or after 1 July 2022, and within the last 5 years
- if you had a new application for registration rejected on integrity grounds, on or after 1 July 2022 and within the last 5 years, and at the time of rejection you:
- had previously been registered either within the last 5 years, or at any time prior to rejection and the Board is satisfied it is appropriate to publish information relating to the rejection, or
- were required to be on the Register due to a Federal Court application, order, injunction, or other court findings and decisions
- the Federal Court made an order for civil penalties, or granted an injunction, in relation to you within the last 5 years, or
- within the last 5 years, the Board made a publication decision relating to your conduct that breached the TASA.
We only include historical information on the TPB Register in some circumstances, for example if you have received a sanction on or after 1 July 2022 (see question above for more information).
If the historical information relates to you as an individual, you can make a request to the Board in writing for this information to be removed from the TPB Register on the basis that information being on the TPB Register would pose a risk to your safety, or to the safety of a member of your family. In your request, you will need to explain why and how including your historical legal names and/or historical registration numbers on the TPB Register poses a risk to the safety of you or your family.
If you are already registered with us, you will not have to provide this information straight away. When it comes time to renew your registration, you will be prompted to enter the last 5 years of legal name changes via the Update Legal or Practice name form.
New applicants will be asked to provide this information on their registration application form.
No, the Board will only display connections between entities (registered or unregistered) when both entities have been found to have breached the TASA and sanctioned accordingly. If the misconduct is not related to you, you will not have information relating to another entity’s misconduct attached to your TPB Register profile.
Yes, we will remove deceased agents from the TPB Register once we have received notification, except in certain circumstances where we have investigated the individual’s conduct, found a breach, and decided to publish information relating to that finding for 5 years. In those circumstances, if we are notified that the individual has died within those 5 years, we must publish a statement to that effect for the remainder of the 5-year period.
You can complete our online form to notify the death of a registered tax practitioner.
Yes, we will be including enhanced filtering on the TPB Register. The new search options will include the ability to filter by recognised professional associations, sanction decision outcomes (order, suspension and termination), rejection of new or renewal applications on integrity grounds and any conditions imposed on a registration.
Yes, we will include information about Federal Court applications, appeals, findings, injunctions and decisions. This applies to any current or new applications and appeals, and any Court findings and decisions made within the past 5 years. This information will include the following:
- If a breach is found, we will include details of the relevant conduct and the section(s) of the TASA the Court found had been contravened.
- If a penalty is ordered, we will include the amount of the penalty.
- If an injunction is ordered, we will include the details of the injunction including what action/s are required or prevented and the duration of the injunction.
- The date(s) of the Court’s judgement.
- Access to the full Federal Court judgement(s).
Yes, we will publish information relating to Administrative Review Tribunal (ART)* reviews of certain TPB decisions that have taken effect (including sanctions), including that a review application has been made, and any details of the application or the ART decision that we consider appropriate. Publishing details relating to the ART review applications and decisions is subject to any ART orders for non-publication or non-disclosure and may only be published for a maximum of 5 years from the date that information is first entered on the Register.
*Note: The Administrative Review Tribunal has replaced the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on 14 October 2024.
Last modified: 16 April 2025