Following media reports and enquiries from practitioners, the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) has issued a statement to clarify the role of the TPB in the recognition of professional associations.
Board Acting Chair Greg Lewis said the TPB accredits a number of recognised professional associations and by doing so provides their voting members an additional avenue to seek registration with the TPB. It is important to note that recognition with the TPB does not give a professional association the ability to actually provide tax agent services for a fee, he said.
In order to satisfy the TPB that these associations continue to meet the legislative requirements to be recognised, in April 2016, the TPB implemented an annual declaration process that requires all recognised associations to confirm and demonstrate that they continue to meet the ongoing eligibility requirements. Mr Lewis said the TPB is currently considering annual declaration submissions from a number of recognised associations.
If a professional association is unable to demonstrate it meets the ongoing requirements and it is no longer recognised with the TPB, Mr Lewis said the Board will engage with relevant tax practitioners to assist them in meeting their ongoing registration requirements. “I would like to note that voting membership of a recognised professional association is just one of the pathways tax practitioners can use to satisfy the ongoing registration requirements”, he said.