The Tax Practitioner’s Board (TPB) has fired a shot over the bows of unregistered tax agents warning it will act on any intelligence it receives from tax practitioners or members of the public.
In a statement issued this week, TPB chief executive, Michael O’Neill warned that people using unregistered tax practitioners would not be covered by safe-harbour provisions which offer protection against penalties imposed by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) when a registered tax practitioner failed to lodge on time or made a false or misleading statement on a return.
“Unregistered agents often try to convince potential clients that they can obtain unrealistically large tax refunds but if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” O’Neill said. “Using an unregistered tax practitioner can cost thousands of dollars in tax bills and penalties.”
The TPB chief executive pointed to recent cases of people posing as registered tax practitioners lodging returns on behalf of clients using their myGov accounts and lodging through myTax.
“We urge everyone this tax-time not to share their personal myGov password with anyone, and if they plan to use a tax agent, to make sure they are registered with the TPB,” he said.
