The Albanese Government has today opened consultation on the next tranche of reforms to strengthen integrity and accountability in our tax system.
While the vast majority of tax agents do the right thing, the PwC tax leaks scandal has shown that the current regulatory framework is insufficient to respond when misconduct occurs.
The consultation paper includes the Albanese government’s plan to strengthen the Tax Practitioners Board’s (TPB) sanctions regime, which would improve deterrence and increase discipline for those who do the wrong thing.
This is key to the government’s promise to stamp out tax adviser misconduct in history.
The consultation paper seeks feedback on measures to expand on the sanctions available to the TPB to respond to tax agent misconduct, including:
- reintroducing criminal penalties for unregistered practitioners
- broadening and increasing civil penalties
- introducing infringement notices.
The government is also consulting on new obligations for tax agents, through a legislative instrument to expand the TPB Code of Professional Conduct. These include:
- managing conflicts of interest
- preventing unauthorised disclosure of confidential government information
- advising clients of relevant matters such as if they are being investigated or sanctioned for misconduct
- having adequate supervision and quality assurance arrangements in place.
This is the first of eight Treasury‑led reviews announced by the government in its PwC response. It follows an immediate package of reforms introduced to parliament in Treasury Laws Amendment (Fairness and Accountability) Bill 2023, measures to increase TPB independence in Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Measures No. 1) 2023, and $30 million in the October 2022‑23 Budget for the TPB to target high risk practitioners.
Interested stakeholders are encouraged to provide their feedback by 21 January 2024.
