A move by the federal government to expand the code of conduct for registered tax agents has been rushed through without industry consultation and will negatively impact small business owners, according to the opposition.
The changes, which introduced eight new obligations to the Code of Professional Conduct overseen by the Tax Practitioners Board, were signed into a legislative instrument by Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones on 1 July and will come into effect on 1 August.
Opposition financial services spokesman Luke Howarth criticised the process for its lack of consultation and argued the new obligations are unrealistic and unachievable for many tax agents due to the impractically short timeline to adapt to them.
“Labor’s war on financial services professionals must end. After botching long-awaited reforms to reduce red tape for financial advisers, the Assistant Treasurer [Stephen Jones] has turned his attention to attacking local accountants, bookkeepers and tax agents,” Howarth stated.
“With a start date of 1 August, accountants have been left with little time to prepare and comply with the Assistant Treasurer’s new obligations. At the busiest time of the year for many tax practitioners, they have received a red-tape bomb from the Albanese government.
“This is yet another rushed process, without consultation and riddled with errors. The Assistant Treasurer needs to start listening to industry from the beginning and consult with his stakeholders.
“The coalition calls on the Labor government to urgently withdraw the legislative instrument which makes these changes and conduct further consultation before it considers burdening local accountants and bookkeepers with more red tape.”
Specifically, he highlighted concerns about a new requirement for tax agents to inform current and prospective clients about any matter that could significantly influence a client’s decision to engage their services. This requirement is retrospective, meaning tax practitioners must review and disclose relevant matters dating back to 1 July 2022.
The obligation may mean tax agents will be required to disclose personal information about their clients, including their health history, religious preferences, sexual orientation or political persuasion.
“During a cost-of-living crisis, this overregulation will be yet another unnecessary cost to be passed on to individual consumers who are already doing it tough,” Howarth said.
“Some of these new obligations are far-reaching and potentially impossible for thousands of small tax practitioners to comply with. In his haphazard attempt to address bad behaviour from a few large international accounting firms, the Assistant Treasurer has caused chaos and confusion for the rest of the industry.”
