The Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) has released its finalised practice note on outsourcing and offshoring tax services, following feedback from practitioners last August on the need for guidance in this area.
The practice note would assist registered tax practitioners better understand their obligations under the Code of Professional Conduct in regard to such tax services. It covered:
- Factors to consider when entering into arrangements involving outsourcing and offshoring
- The consequences of having inadequate arrangements; and
- Listings of where to find further useful information.
Examples of outsourcing activities would include contracting external third party IT providers, seeking opinion or advice from a third party, contracting with either domestic or foreign third party entities to undertake specific work and entering into a service trust arrangement whereby a third party trust undertakes specific work.
TPB chair, Ian Taylor, said that the practice note considered feedback on an exposure draft that was released for stakeholder comment last August.
“The issue of offshoring and outsourcing tax services to third parties is of increasing significance to the tax profession and we valued the participation of many stakeholders in this process,” he said.
