Tax Agent Code Updates

On 9 October 2024 after three months of advocacy by CPA Australia together with other professional bodies (joint bodies) a complied version of the Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024 (the Determination) has issued. The complied version of the Determination (below) is the result of significant consultation with Treasury and the Assistant Treasurer’s office on behalf of members. This final version substantially changes sections 15 and 45 of the Determination, significantly raising the threshold before tax practitioners have a mandatory obligation to withdraw from engagements and report clients to regulators; and moving an obligation to inform clients of “any matter”, to a prescriptive list of disclosable matters, providing practitioners with certainty of their disclosure obligations.

Large parts of the Determination’s obligations should be familiar to our members as they are drawn from the APESB Standards, particularly APES 110. Members are already required to be compliant with the APESB Standards and, as such, should be a long way down the track in compliance with these new obligations.

We acknowledge the joint effort of all the joint bodies in achieving this outcome, as well as the hard work and dedication of the Assistant Treasurer’s staff who worked collaboratively with the joint bodies to develop amendments to the original Determination.

We now look forward to working in the same collaborative manner with the Tax Practitioners Board to develop guidance providing clarity and certainty around the new obligations.