The ATO says registered agents who fail to meet their personal tax lodgment and payment obligations:
- are at risk of breaching the Code of Professional Conduct administered by the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB).
- Registered agents “have a higher risk setting” in the ATO’s lodgment compliance case selection and are “more likely to be selected” for ATO compliance action.
- The ATO may also focus on other compliance issues, such as on-time payment of liabilities.
- Some registered agents lodge their own returns on paper to keep their personal details private from their staff in the practice. However, the ATO says this is unnecessary as agents can use Access Manager to keep their personal information private in the portals by defining their own records as “restricted” (which means an Administrator AUSkey holder can nominate who can access that client’s information).
- The ATO further notes the benefit of the lodgment program due dates by lodging electronically.
The ATO says its compliance activity is not limited to registered agents.
- The ATO can identify other tax and superannuation professionals through information it gathers from a number of sources, including tax records and data provided by professional associations.
- The ATO says it compares this information with its compliance data to identify candidates for compliance campaigns.
[LTN 40, 2/3/15]