A tax agent is a person, partnership or company who is registered as a tax agent with the Tax Agents’ Board. A tax agent is entitled to charge a fee for preparing income tax returns and transacting business on behalf of taxpayers in income tax matters. You can engage a tax agent to lodge your income tax return and deal with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) on your behalf.
Once you have appointed a tax agent to act on your behalf the ATO can discuss your taxation matters with that tax agent until you, or the agent, notify the Tax Office that they are no longer your tax agent, or you appoint another tax agent.
Some tax agents also offer other services such as accountancy, management, auditing and financial services and may be members of various professional bodies.
To determine whether someone is a registered tax agent you can search the List of tax agents or contact the Tax Agents’ Board in your State. You can also search the list to locate the names of the registered tax agents in your area. The Board cannot recommend particular tax agents.
If a person who is not a registered tax agent, offers to prepare your income tax return for a fee, you should advise the Tax Agent Investigation Unit (TAIU) of the ATO, as it is an offence for a person to charge a fee for preparing income tax returns unless they are a registered tax agent.
You can do this by sending an email to the Secretary of the Tax Agents’ Board, who will check that the person is not registered, before forwarding it on to the TAIU. The email address of the Board is provided under Contact details. The Tax Office prosecutes a number of unregistered tax agents each year. It has been found that these persons often have neither the knowledge, skill or integrity to attend to the taxation affairs of their clients in an ethical or professional manner.
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