Information for Clients
YOUR OBLIGATIONS TO THE ATO AND YOUR TAX PRACTITIONER’S OBLIGATIONS TO YOU, THE TPB AND ATO
Your obligations are important
As a taxpayer, it is important you:
■ are aware of your obligations to the
Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
■ understand your tax practitioner has
obligations to you, the ATO and the
Tax Practitioners Board (TPB).
Your obligations as a client
It’s your responsibility as a taxpayer to:
■ be truthful with the information you
provide your tax practitioner
■ keep the required records and provide
them to your tax practitioner on a
timely basis, as required
■ be co-operative with your tax
practitioner’s requests and meet
their due date
■ comply with the tax laws.
You must meet your obligations
If you do not meet your obligations:
■ the ATO may impose administrative
penalties (fines)
■ interest charges may be applied
■ in some cases, criminal prosecutions
may be sought
■ the ATO may initiate debt recovery.
What’s required of your tax practitioner
Your tax practitioner’s obligations
require them to:
■ act honestly and with integrity
■ uphold and promote the ethical
standards of the tax profession
■ act lawfully in your best interests
■ manage any conflicts of interest
■ take reasonable care to ascertain
your state of affairs and apply tax
laws correctly
■ keep your information confidential
unless there is a legal duty to disclose
■ provide services competently
■ not knowingly obstruct the
administration of the tax laws
■ advise you of your rights and
obligations under the tax laws
■ account to you for money or other
property on trust
■ not make false or misleading
statements to the TPB or ATO,
and in some cases withdraw their
engagement with you and notify the
TPB or ATO of certain matters
■ keep proper records
■ keep you informed of certain matters
so you can make informed decisions
(see page 2)
■ address any false or misleading
statements they are responsible for
■ engage with clients to address other
false or misleading statements,
exploring options to correct.
When your tax practitioner doesn’t meet their obligations
If your tax practitioner fails to meet
their obligations:
■ their registration can be suspended
or terminated, meaning they
can’t practice
■ they could receive a caution or
orders from the TPB – for example,
undertaking education or working
under the supervision of another
registered tax practitioner
■ fines may be imposed on them by
the Federal Court
■ your tax and superannuation matters
may not be accurate
■ you may be subject to enquiries
or audits
■ any tax shortfalls may attract penalties
and interest
■ you may have litigation options to
review decisions and to recover debts
■ in the case of fraud or criminality,
penalties may lead to prosecutions.
Your tax practitioner must keep you informed of certain matters
1. Information about the TPB Register
To support you to make the right
decisions about any tax practitioner,
the TPB maintains a public register.
You can identify registered BAS agents
and tax agents, as well as those who are
in your locality. The register also provides
important information about higher risk
cases, where the TPB has imposed
serious sanctions on a tax practitioner.
You can find more information about
the register at tpb.gov.au/help-usingtpb-register
2. How to make a complaint to the TPB
The TPB welcomes all feedback
which helps improve services and
the regulatory system and provides
critical intelligence and data. You
can provide information or make a
complaint about a tax practitioner to
the TPB using a simple online form,
myprofile.tpb.gov.au/complaints/ .
Complaints can also be made about
unregistered preparers who are not
complying with the law. All complaints
and referrals are assessed by the TPB.
For more information about the
complaints process see tpb.gov.au/
complaints.
3. General information about rights, responsibilities and obligations
Your tax practitioner must advise you
of their rights, responsibilities and
obligations as a tax practitioner, including
to you, and the obligations you have to
them. These rights, responsibilities and
obligations may arise under the tax law
or because of the services they provide
to you.
For a summary of key obligations
relating to you and your tax practitioner
see page 1. Your tax practitioner will
provide you with additional information
about these matters.
4. Prescribed events within the last 5 years
If certain prescribed events have occurred
involving the tax practitioner within the
last 5 years, they must advise you of this
at the time you make enquiries to engage
or re-engage them to provide tax agent
services. Otherwise, the tax practitioner
must notify you within 30 days of them
becoming aware of the matter. Prescribed
events include if the tax practitioner was:
■ suspended or terminated by the TPB
■ an undischarged bankrupt or went into
external administration
■ convicted of a serious taxation
offence or an offence involving fraud
or dishonesty
■ serving or sentenced to a term of
imprisonment in Australia for 6 months
or more.
This disclosure obligation extends
to prospective clients – for example,
a taxpayer enquiring to engage a
tax practitioner for the provision of
tax agent services.
Tax practitioners are not required to
disclose events that occurred before
1 July 2022.
5. Registration subject to conditions
Your tax practitioner must advise you
if their registration is subject to conditions
(for example, they can only provide
tax services related to research and
development or tax [financial] advice
services).
The tax practitioner must notify you
of this at the time you are making
inquiries to engage or re-engage them
to provide you with tax services.
Otherwise, the tax practitioner must notify
you within 30 days of them becoming
aware of the matter.
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