Chartered Accountants Australian and New Zealand (CA ANZ) has lodged a submission on the Treasury consultation paper, Review of the eligibility requirements for registration with the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB). 

New registration requirements

CA ANZ has expressed grave concerns about the insertion of Code requirements of governance, conflicts of interest and personal tax obligations in the annual registration requirements as it removes the need for a TPB investigation and may result in either a rejected registration / renewal, or a termination, which immediately disqualifies an entity from providing tax services. 

CA ANZ argues that the Tax Practitioner Board should not be able to remove the registration of a tax practitioner without procedural fairness and natural justice and reminds Treasury that that removing registration removes the ability to work in the field of tax.

It is also argued that significant changes since the James review make these proposed registration requirements redundant. For example, governance arrangements are now explicitly part of the Code. Significant breaches of the Code need to be self-reported, and peer reported to the TPB within 30 days and non-compliance with these obligations can result in substantial penalties. In the 2022-23 October budget the TPB received $30.4 million to enable the rollout of an expanded compliance programme and is expected to shortly obtain a wider range of sanction powers. Thus, the TPB is now obtaining almost real time information about significant breaches of the Code and can commence investigations and impose sanctions.

“The risk of overregulation without appropriate natural justice is much higher than the perceived benefits of consumer protection,” 

Removal of recognized professional association pathway

CA ANZ does not support the removal of the Recognised Professional Association (RPA) pathway as its removal would increase barriers to entry and worsen the current shortage of tax professionals. 

CA ANZ has strong governance systems that are recognized internationally. Furthermore CA ANZ’s educational requirements are robust and result in a TEQSA post graduate qualification level 8 which is higher than level 5 which the TPB currently requires.

Other matters

The consultation paper contains several big picture questions with little or no analysis. Such issues include whether digital service providers, lawyers, conveyancers and inhouse tax specialists should be brought within TASA. Whether Code obligations should include a requirement to contingency/succession plans and various other matters. 

Consultation 

CA ANZ calls for further consultation papers on the issues raised in this paper, so more detailed policy design can be considered before exposure draft legislation is designed. CA ANZ also calls for longer consultation periods so that industry bodies can consult effectively with their membership who are impacted by these proposals.