Tax agent who lied about CPE hours loses bid to halt TPB ban
The regulator said Constantine Kambourakis had a long history of TASA breaches and overstated his CPE by over 42 hours.
A Sydney practitioner banned by the Tax Practitioners Board for falsifying most of his continuing professional education (CPE) hours has lost a bid to have the decision suspended while a tribunal review is underway.
The Administrative Review Tribunal said on Friday that keeping the ban for accountant Constantine Kambourakis in place was in the public interest.
It added that there were weak prospects of overturning the TPB’s findings that he overstated his CPE by over 42 hours.
The “preponderance of relevant factors weighs against the granting of a stay”, ART general member Mark Darian-Smith said.
“I am not persuaded on the material currently before the tribunal that the applicant’s prospects of success are sufficiently strong that a stay ought to be granted or that the public interest weighs in favour of a stay order,” Darian-Smith said.
Kambourakis is the principal and founder of boutique firm CKCO Accountants.
He was banned by the TPB in August for overinflating the number of CPE hours he had completed and failing to comply with tax laws in his personal affairs.
The ART granted Kambourakis an interim pause of the board’s decision in October while it was reviewed.
But in a decision last week, the ART lifted the pause and confirmed the TPB’s decision would take full effect, preventing Kambourakis from practicing as a tax agent or taking on new clients for four years.
The TPB said Kambourakis had made false and misleading statements in his CPE log by claiming he had completed 55 podcast hours between January 2022 and December 2023 when the actual podcast hours listened to was 12.4 hours. Tax agents must complete 120 hours over a three-year registration period.
Kambourakis also failed to comply with the tax laws in the conduct of his personal affairs by failing to comply with ATO payment arrangements for income tax account (ITA) and integrated client account (ICA) liabilities. He also failed to lodge four income tax returns over four years and three quarterly business activity statements.
The TPB added that its decision accounted for Kambourakis’ history of non-compliance with ITA and ICA obligations stretched back over a decade and that he had already received two previous sanctions in 2017 and 2020.
“There have been issues associated with the applicant’s failure to comply with the TASA since 2010,” Darian-Smith said.
“Two previous sanctions imposed on the applicant by the respondent have not been successful in bringing the applicant into compliance with the code subsection.”
While the ART noted a “range of extenuating circumstances, including the effects of COVID-19 and his carer responsibilities for a special needs child and ageing parents” as reasons Kambourakis gave in his case for a stay, this was outweighed by other factors.
Darian-Smith said he was “not persuaded on the material now before it that the applicant has good prospects of success on the application for review”, particularly since Kambourakis was not expected to dispute the TPB’s findings about his CPE.
“It also appears likely that the applicant will file evidence for the final hearing in relation to the CPE log, although the applicant apparently does not seem to contest the does not seem to contest the central factual allegation made against him, which is that the 55 podcast hours recorded in the applicant’s CPE log is not a true representation of the actual hours of podcasts listened to.”
He also agreed with the TPB that granting Kambourakis stay would go against the public interest.
The TPB argued granting stay would undermine its reputation as an effective regulatory body and ability to discharge its duties under the TASA – a situation “exacerbated” by his alleged failure to act honestly and with integrity in relation to the CPE log.
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