Annual tax agent registration fees introduced to boost oversight
Tax agents will now pay an annual fee of $273 from July instead of $704 every three years.
Tax agents seeking to maintain their registration will be required to pay $273 every year after the government updated the fee schedule and abolished the triennial system last week to ensure greater visibility over practitioners.
The updated schedule would apply from 1 July to new and renewal registration applications, according to amendments made to the Tax Agent Services Amendment (Updating Fees) Regulations 2024.
The TPB said the registration period changing from three years to one year was a decision made by the government to ensure ongoing visibility of tax practitioner registrations.
“[It] will increase consumer confidence that tax practitioners continue to meet their ongoing registration requirements and only those that should be registered are,” the TPB said on its website.
Moving annual registration would also align tax practitioners with registration periods used by other professions across the government, as well as other requirements for tax practitioners such as professional indemnity insurance policies.
Under the changes, fees payable for tax agents would go from $704 every three years to $273 every year.
For BAS agents, fees would change from $141 to $54 every year. Like the current fee structure, the new fees would still be subject to annual indexation, the government said.
In addition to the shorter registration timeline for agents, the TPB said its processing times would also be reduced from six to four months.
“We will now have a maximum of 4 months to process and determine the outcome of a new registration application. If an applicant does not receive a final decision within this timeframe, the application is considered rejected. Applicants have the right of review should their application be rejected,” the TPB said.
However, it said tax agents’ continuing professional education (CPE) requirements would remain unchanged “at this stage”.
“The CPE period will continue to align with a tax practitioner’s registration date and the minimum yearly requirement for hours completed will remain. Tax practitioners will also still be able to align their CPE period to their recognised professional association.”
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