Registering as a company or partnership tax (financial) adviser

Register as a company or partnership tax (financial) adviser

All Australian financial services (AFS) licensees and their representatives who provide tax (financial) advice services for a fee or other reward must be registered with us.

‘Representative’ includes:

an authorised representative of the licensee which may be:
- an individual
- a body corporate (or a corporate authorised representative)
- a partnership
- a group of individuals and/or bodies corporate that are the trustees of a trust
an employee or director of the licensee
an employee or director of a related body corporate of the licensee, or
any other person acting on behalf of the licensee.

Requirements for registration

Each individual partner or director must be at least 18 years old.
Each individual partner or director must be a fit and proper person.
The company or partnership must maintain, or will be able to maintain, professional indemnity insurance that meets our requirements.
The company applicant or company partner must not be under external administration.
The company or company partner must not have been convicted of a serious offence involving fraud or dishonesty during the previous five years.
The company or partnership must have a sufficient number of individuals registered as tax agents or tax (financial) advisers to provide tax (financial) advice services to a competent standard, and to carry out supervisory arrangements.

Applying for registration

You must complete an online application and provide the supporting documentation.

Checklist - information you need to apply to register
Professional indemnity insurance policy details: if the company or partnership is covered by its own policy, the policy number, name of insurer, start and end date of the policy and the amount of cover if the company or partnership is covered by the policy of another registered tax practitioner, the registered tax practitioner’s name and registration number.
Names and registration numbers of the individual registered tax agents or tax (financial) advisers forming the sufficient number to provide tax (financial) advice services and carry out supervisory arrangements.
Details of any events that may affect your eligibility for registration, including overdue tax obligations.
The company or partnership’s tax file number (TFN) and/or Australian Business Number (ABN). Providing this information will assist us to process your application.
Schedule of personal details completed for all partners and directors who are not registered with the TPB.

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Application fee

You must pay the application fee in full before you submit the application for registration:

$400 – if you are carrying on a business as a tax (financial) adviser
$200 – if you are not carrying on a business as a tax (financial) adviser.

For information on making a payment refer How to pay your tax (financial) adviser application fee.

After lodging your application

We will advise you after the decision is made to either grant or reject your application.

If your application is granted, you will be registered for at least three years from the date we make our decision. We will:

advise you of any condition(s) we impose on your registration
include registration details on the TPB Register
notify the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) that the company or partnership is registered with us.

If your application is rejected, we will:

advise you of the reasons for our decision and of your appeal rights
notify ASIC and the ATO of our decision to reject your application.

Further information

Last modified: 1 July 2017