Joint submission made in relation to the proposed TASA changes

May 2023

The NTAA was part of a joint written submission in response to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee’s inquiry into the Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Measures No. 1) Bill 2023. The submission addressed proposed changes to the Tax Agents Services Act 2009 ('TASA').

The following principal points were made in the submission:

• Provisions targeting disqualified entities seeking to engage a tax agent are too broad and need to be tightened;
• Concerns that the broad nature of the proposed changes could reduce, rather than enhance, the independence of the TPB from the ATO;
• The commencement date of the new code of conduct obligations could potentially be a minimum of only one day after Royal Assent;
• Many tax practitioners have expressed their preference for three-year renewal periods, rather than an annual registration period; and
• In providing the TPB with the ability to change the registration period to annual from 1 July 2024, the joint submission recommends that the intervening period be used to enhance the TPB’s IT systems and design a more streamlined and efficient process.

Clearly these proposed changes will impact tax agents and we are actively engaging on behalf of our members.