There is radio silence from Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones’ office about whether he will meet with the 10 professional bodies that have objected to the speed at which an amendment to ethical rules impacting tax agents will be effective.
Professional associations including the Financial Advisers Association have written to Jones objecting to a range of issues in the determination that was only released earlier this month.
The letter to Jones from the associations expressed concerns about possible incompatibilities with legislated obligations on confidentiality, the retrospective application of the determination, and a provision related to information tax advisers must provide current or future clients about their activities.
The determination was agreed between Jones and Australian Greens’ Senator Barbara Pocock last November when amendments to the Tax Agent Services Act were being debated in the Senate.
Those negotiations also resulting in amendments to tax agent rules that required advisers to ‘dob in’ fellow tax agents they suspect of having been involved in a significant breach of the professional code of conduct.
Pocock also won a concession from the government related to limiting the ability of people who had continuing financial interests from a major accounting firm to be appointed as directors of the Tax Practitioners’ Board.
It is unclear whether all of the Australian Greens representatives are aware of Pocock’s work on tax agent regulation because Greens’ MP Max Chandler-Mather has written on behalf of one of his constituents, accountant Tim Munro, and other accountants in the electorate of Griffith wanting to clarify provisions in the very determination Pocock spent time negotiating with Jones last November.
Professional Planner put questions to Jones last week asking whether the minister will meet with the bodies to discuss the determination, alter the 1 August effective date to provide people with more time to understand the determination, and also whether Jones considered consulting with the bodies on a confidential basis regarding wording changes to the text previously exposed for comment.
The minister and his team have to date not provided any answers to these questions and the determination becomes effective on Thursday.
Jones may not have responded but Treasury and the TPB have this week issued a communique that outlines matters discussed about the determination with professional associations.
That communique notes concerns from professional associations as well as outlines a work program of guidance the TPB intends to issue by the end of November to provide certainty to advisers such as financial planners.
Jones’ opposite number, shadow Minister for Financial Services Luke Howarth, said that professional associations have been treated poorly by the current government.
“The accounting professional bodies are some of the most sophisticated, engaged and responsive industry organisations we have, and the Albanese Government has treated them with contempt,” Howarth said.
“It also appears that the regulator, the Tax Practitioners Board, wasn’t aware this was coming with them only issuing a media release almost two weeks after the determination was made, once concerns from the sector were already boiling over. As a result, the sector was effectively given just three weeks to comply, with no guidance from the regulator.
“The Assistant Treasurer [Jones] cynically rushed this determination through on the last sitting day before the Parliament’s six-week winter recess and left his regulator to play catch-up. Now, with a start date of 1 August, tax practitioners must wait until Parliament resumes on 12 August for any resolution. This is a complete mess which could have easily been avoided.”
Howarth said the coalition would have approach the issues such as this differently.
“A Coalition Government would not cut deals with the Greens which leave small businesses with a ticking red tape bomb, like Labor has,” he said.
“The Coalition would prioritise opportunities to simplify regulation and reduce red tape for tax practitioners, rather than creating more of it.”
