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accountingservices.com.au

A guide to checking who does your tax and your books, published by Dotto

Tax agents · BAS agents · Records

Accounting services: checking who does your tax and your books

Generally, only registered tax and BAS agents can charge a fee for tax agent or BAS services, and the Tax Practitioners Board keeps a public register of them that anyone can search. Of the two, a BAS agent may prepare and lodge a client’s business activity statement but not their tax return, which is tax agent work.

This guide, published by Dotto, follows the check through: the two kinds of agent, the register, the Code they work under, what an accountant’s letters do and do not tell you, complaints, and the records the ATO expects a business to keep whoever does the books. It names no practitioner or firm.

General information, not tax or financial advice. The Tax Practitioners Board is the place to check a tax or BAS agent, and the ATO’s record-keeping pages are the place to check your own obligations.

An open ledger with a debit page and a credit page A drawing of an open account book on pale green ruled paper. The left page is headed Dr, for debit, and carries two entries in words: records kept, and facts given in full. The right page is headed Cr, for credit, and carries two entries: registered with the TPB, and bound by the Code. Each page has a red double rule down its margin. There are no figures anywhere in the book. Dr Cr your side their side records kept facts given in full registered with the TPB bound by the Code
Drawn for this guide. Double-entry bookkeeping writes every transaction on two sides; this guide reads the arrangement with whoever does your books the same way, as your duties on one page and theirs on the other.

1.1Two sides to every engagement

Handing your tax or your books to someone else does not move all the duties to them. The official pages put some on each side.

Your side and theirs, compiled by this guide from the ATO, the TPB and the Tax Agent Services Act 2009
DutyDr · your sideCr · their side
RecordsKeep records of all transactions relating to your business’s tax, super and registration affairs.Keep records of the tax agent or BAS services they provide to you, for at least 5 years after each service.
InformationBe truthful with the information you give them, and provide the records they need on time.Take reasonable care in working out your state of affairs and in applying the tax laws correctly.
Being toldBe aware of your own obligations to the ATO.Tell you about the TPB Register, the TPB’s complaints process and any conditions on their registration.
AccountabilityAs the business owner, you keep primary accountability for record keeping even if you assign it to a registered tax or BAS agent.Maintain professional indemnity insurance that meets the Board’s requirements.

The fuller version of each row is in Keeping records when someone else does the books and The Code of Professional Conduct.

A close view of the worn, eight-sided number keys of an old adding machine, in columns of black keys and cream keys, each key marked with a large digit and a smaller second figure.
The number keys of an old mechanical adding machine, a column of black keys beside a column of cream ones. Photo by TechPhotoGal on Pixabay.

1.2The first check

The TPB Register can be searched by a practitioner’s legal or registration name, their ASIC registered business name or their registration number. An entry shows whether they are a tax agent or a BAS agent, whether their registration is current, suspended or terminated, and any conditions that limit the services they may provide. A practitioner who uses the Registered tax practitioner symbol shows their registration type and number in it, so the number can be looked up directly.

What else an entry holds, from sanctions to association memberships, is set out in Checking the TPB Register.

1.3The journal

Six entries, each answering one question from the official pages named on it. They can be read in any order.

  1. Fo. 1Tax agent or BAS agent?Which kind of registered agent may do which work, and where does bookkeeping end?Written from: Tax Practitioners Board, Tax Agent Services Act 2009
  2. Fo. 2Checking the TPB RegisterWhat does the public register show, and how is an entry read?Written from: Tax Practitioners Board
  3. Fo. 3The Code of Professional ConductWhat does the law ask of every registered tax and BAS agent?Written from: Tax Agent Services Act 2009, Tax Practitioners Board
  4. Fo. 4“Accountant” is not a registrationWhich work is registered, and what do the professional bodies’ complaint processes cover?Written from: Tax Practitioners Board, ASIC, CA ANZ, CPA Australia, Institute of Public Accountants
  5. Fo. 5Complaints about a tax practitionerHow does the TPB take complaints, and what can it not do?Written from: Tax Practitioners Board, ATO
  6. Fo. 6Keeping records when someone else does the booksWhat does the ATO expect a business to keep, and why does it stay the owner’s job?Written from: ATO, Tax Practitioners Board

About this guide

accountingservices.com.au is a guide published by Dotto. It explains, from the pages of the Tax Practitioners Board, the ATO, ASIC and the law itself, how to check the person who does your tax or your books. It names, ranks and endorses no practitioner or firm, and where this guide and a source differ, the source is right.

General information, not tax or financial advice. For your own matter, the TPB and the ATO have the final word.

Sources for this page