The Board Conduct Committee (BCC) refused the surrender of registration request made by a tax agent who was under investigation for misconduct. The surrender request was refused on the basis that it would be inappropriate to accept a surrender request once a notice of investigation had been served and an investigation into misconduct had commenced. 

After the investigation was completed the tax agent was found to have breached 4 items of the Code of Professional Conduct (Code):

1. Code item 1- You must act honestly and with integrity.
2. Code item 2 - You must comply with the taxation laws in the conduct of your personal affairs.
3. Code item 7 - You must ensure that a tax agent service that you provide, or that is provided on your behalf, is provided competently.
4. Code item 9 - You must take reasonable care in ascertaining a client's state of affairs, to the extent that ascertaining the state of those affairs is relevant to a statement you are making or a thing you are doing on behalf of the client.

The tax agent breached Code item 1 by making 6 false and misleading statements when they lodged applications for renewal of registration, in which they failed to declare that they were an undischarged bankrupt or had been in the last 5 years. The tax agent breached Code item 2 by failing to pay their taxation debts in their individual capacity and as a director of an associated entity. The tax agent breached Code items 7 and 9 by preparing and lodging business activity statements for 4 clients who were then subject to Australian Taxation Office (ATO) compliance activities. These compliance activities resulted in total shortfalls of over $1.2million, with the ATO further cancelling their clients’ GST registrations after they determined they were not carrying on a business.

Further to these breaches of the Code, the tax agent was found not to be a fit and proper person and was banned from reapplying as tax practitioner for 2 years. In making its decision, the BCC noted that the Board’s role is to ensure consumer protection and that it has an objective to protect and maintain the integrity of the registered tax practitioner profession.