The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) on Wed 8.5.2013, released its Performance Audit Report No 33 2012-13 on the effectiveness of the Tax Practitioners Board’s implementation and administration of the regulatory arrangements for tax practitioners under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA).
The ANAO reported that the Board had introduced an effective national registration system for tax practitioners, and noted that the backlog of applications at the beginning of 2013 was less than 2,000 applications (from the peak of 18,000 applications in August 2010). However, the ANAO noted concern that the proposed quality assurance framework has not been finalised and implemented.
The ANAO made 3 recommendations aimed at improving the Board’s administrative arrangements and regulatory assurance function. These include:
- developing and reporting against KPIs and the Board’s service standards;
- aligning compliance risks and streamlining the Board’s compliance framework; and
- developing an intelligence gathering and analysis capability.
The Board has agreed to all 3 recommendations.
[LTN 80, 30/4/13]