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The Code of Professional Conduct
TAX AGENT SERVICES ACT 2009 – SECT 30.10
Honesty and integrity
1. You must act honestly and with integrity.
2. You must comply with the taxation laws* in the conduct of your personal affairs.
3. If:
(a) you receive money or other property from or on behalf of a client; and
(b) you hold the money or other property on trust; you must account to your client for the money or other property.
Independence
4. You must act lawfully in the best interests of your client.
5. You must have in place adequate arrangements for the management of conflicts of interest that may arise in relation to the activities that you undertake in the capacity of a registered tax agent*, BAS agent or tax (financial) adviser.
Confidentiality
6. Unless you have a legal duty to do so, you must not disclose any information relating to a client’s affairs to a third party without your client’s permission.
Competence
7. You must ensure that a tax agent service* that you provide, or that is provided on your behalf, is provided competently.
8. You must maintain knowledge and skills relevant to the tax agent services* that you provide.
9. You must take reasonable care in ascertaining a client’s state of affairs, to the extent that ascertaining the state of those affairs is relevant to a statement you are making or a thing you are doing on behalf of the client.
10. You must take reasonable care to ensure that taxation law* are applied correctly to the circumstances in relation to which you are providing advice to a client.
Other responsibilities
11. You must not knowingly obstruct the proper administration of the taxation laws*.
12. You must advise your client of the client’s rights and obligations under the taxation laws* that are materially related to the tax agent services* you provide.
13. You must maintain professional indemnity insurance that meets the Board’s requirements.
14. You must respond to requests and directions from the Board in a timely, responsible and reasonable manner.
Table of sections
30-15 Sanctions for failure to comply with the Code of Professional Conduct.
30-20 Orders
30-25 Suspension
30-30 Termination
*to find definitions of asterisked terms, see the dictionary, starting at 90-1 of the Tax Agent Services Act 2009.
Complaints
If you would like to lodge a compliant with The Tax Institute, please download and complete the complaints form.
Any complaint against a Member of The Tax Institute will only be considered if it is made in writing and the identity of the complainant and the Member is stated. On receipt of the complaint, you will be contacted and advised of further procedures. You will also be notified on conclusion of the complaint. Once lodged the completed complaint form may be shown to the Member for their review and to allow the Member to provide any evidence for their rebuttal. The time taken to investigate a complaint will vary from case to case and will depend on multiple factors.
Complaints must be lodged for the attention of the Complaints Officer in one of the following ways:
a) at the office of The Tax Institute, Level 21, 60 Margaret Street, NSW Sydney 2000
b) by registered mail to The Tax Institute, Level 21, 60 Margaret Street, NSW Sydney 2000
c) by email to The Tax Institute: complaints@taxinstitute.com.au