This article outlines the proposals to implement the 2019 James review recommendations to introduce criminal sanctions for unregistered preparers, enforceable undertakings, infringement notices, the ability to suspend rather than terminate, higher and wider civil penalties, longer termination periods and interim suspensions for egregious behaviour. 

The Tax Practitioner Board (TPB) is a front line regulator that does not currently have the same powers and regulatory tools as other regulators such as ASIC. The proposed changes seek to introduce equivalent remedies, including new criminal and administrative sanctions as well as two new civil offences. 

Below are links to:

• Frequently asked questions and 
• A table that summarises how the regime could work. 

Note the Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act 2014 needs to be read in conduction  with the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA) to understand these proposals. 

This article was written on 17 April 2026 based on exposure draft legislation. Changes may have occurred subsequently.

What changes are proposed for registered tax practitioners?

It is proposed that registered tax practitioners will have:

• Lower range sanctions being enforceable undertakings and infringement notices 
• Suspension or termination rather than just termination
• Higher maximum civil penalties and a new civil penalty for Code of Professional Conduct (Code) breaches
• Interim suspension for egregious behaviour
• Termination for up to 10 years rather than 5 years.

In addition, the penalty units for breaches of civil penalty provisions have increased. It is proposed that the maximum penalty units applicable for individuals will be 2,500 units and 50,000 units for bodies corporate and significant global entities. This compares to ASIC’s penalty units which are currently 5,000 for individuals and 50,000 for bodies corporate. 

While the proposed sanctions may appear to be in line with other regulators at first glance, there are two important areas which CA ANZ believes need amendments. Firstly, the 50,000 penalty units for bodies corporate and significant global entities’ application goes beyond any existing sanction for any regulator.  Finally, the provisions for suspending a tax agent need to be very clear that suspension can only be used in the most egregious of circumstances.

Below we step through the changes in more detail.

Enforceable undertakings

It is proposed that the TPB can accept and seek enforcement of undertakings relating to compliance with all TASA provisions by agreeing to undertake or refrain from taking an action. The TPB can only accept an enforceable undertaking following a Code investigation and a finding that the entity has not complied with the Code. 

Infringement notices

Infringement notices are an easy way to stop clear minor breaches which do not require the weighing of evidence.

The TPB will be able to issue infringement notices for:

• All 6 of the civil penalties that apply to unregistered agents within 2 years of the contravention.
• Breaches of 8 of the 24 of the Code items for registered agents, but only after the TPB has completed an investigation and within 1 year of the contravention. See the link below to penalty tables for further information.

An infringement notice penalty will be a maximum of $3,960 for an individual or $19,800 for a body corporate or an individual that is part of a significant global entity. 

If an infringement notice is paid within 28 days of being given, then a civil penalty cannot be made for the same contravention. Payment of an infringement notice is not an admission of guilt. 

Termination v suspension

Currently your registration can be terminated if you are convicted of a taxation offence or cease to meet registration requirements or breach a condition of your registration. If your registration is terminated it is proposed that this can be for a period up to 10 (it is currently 5) years. 

It is proposed to allow the TPB to suspend, rather than terminate, your registration. This is advantageous as it easier to meet a suspension condition to resume your registration than reapply for registration.

Quantum and range of civil penalties have significantly increased

Both registered and unregistered tax practitioners face significant increases in maximum civil penalties that can apply. For individuals they have increased from 250 to 2,500 penalty units ($82,000 to $825,000) and for body corporates from 1,250 to 50,000 penalty units ($412,500 to $16.5 million).  If an individual is part of significant global entity, then the civil penalty is the same as a body corporate. 

There is also a new civil penalty provision which makes a failure to comply with the Code a civil penalty offence. This greatly broadens the TPB’s power to issue civil penalties which is currently limited to false or misleading statements, employing or using deregistered entities or signing a declaration when work is unsupervised.

Before civil penalties can be imposed, the TPB must have applied for and obtained a Federal Court order to impose a civil penalty. Such a process is a significant investment of TPB time and funds which should ensure civil penalty cases are carefully selected. 

The civil penalties are maximum amounts and will not be automatically applied. In determining the civil penalty amount a court must take into account:

• the nature and extent of the contravention
• the nature and extent of any loss or damage suffered because of the contravention
• the circumstances in which the contravention took place, and 
• whether the person has previously been found by a court to have engaged in any similar conduct.

It is expected that only extreme cases would have the maximum penalty applied.  

Interim suspension

The exposure draft also introduces a new power – the ability of the TPB to suspend registration if it is satisfied on reasonable grounds that a tax/BAS agent has engaged in conduct that would constitute a tax offence or result in a civil penalty, AND that one or more of the agents clients will suffer loss or damage or it is in the public interest to suspend your registration because there is or may be a significant risk to the revenue of the Commonwealth, the integrity of the tax system or the integrity of the tax profession. 

The TPB can use this power without the need to commence or finalise an investigation into the suspected behaviour. The draft explanatory memorandum states that this is only to apply to highly egregious behaviour poses a risk of serious harm in the future to tax clients and/or to the tax system.

Currently the draft legislation does not reflect this intent, and the joint bodies are advocating for a substantial harm threshold be legislated regarding clients. 

Criminal Sanctions

Finally, five new criminal offences are proposed for unregistered preparers who 

• provide tax agent services for a fee 
• provide BAS services for a fee 
• advertise tax agent services 
• advertise BAS services 
• make false representation of being a tax or BAS agent