TASA exposes the divide between planners and accountants


If one issue has clearly defined the divide which continues to exist between financial planners and accountants, it has been the chequered passage of the Government’s Tax Agents Services Act (TASA) amendments.
Rarely in the past half decade have we seen such divergent positions adopted by the major financial planning and financial services organisations and the major accounting groups.
On one side we saw arrayed the Financial Planning Association (FPA), the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and the Financial Services Council (FSC).
On the other side we saw CPA Australia, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and the Institute of Public Accountants.
And what were they essentially arguing about? The timing of the implementation of those elements of the TASA legislation which impact financial planners who are, in any case, now subject to both the legislative and regulatory impact of the Future of Financial Advice changes.
It is perhaps worth noting that there were no similarly strident divergent views expressed between planners and accountants when it came to the debate around the accountants’ limited licensing regime, so the question of the provision of tax-related advice by planners is clearly viewed as a totem issue by the major accounting groups.
But in circumstances where the planning groups are not actually opposing their members being subject to the TASA legislation but merely seeking a longer phasing-in period, it is difficult to understand why the major accounting groups have chosen to be so strident.
Then, too, it might equally be asked why the Federal Government made TASA such a priority that it not only took up valuable time in the last four parliamentary sitting weeks before a Federal Election but also became the subject of on-again-off-again treatment in terms of its review by a Parliamentary Joint Committee.
Looked at objectively, nothing of particular significance turned on the passage of the legislation and no great harm was likely to be done by delaying its implementation with respect to financial planners who are, in any case, more tightly regulated than accountants.
The Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Senator Mathias Cormann, reflected during the Parliamentary Joint Committee review of the TASA legislation that it had appeared to give rise to a turf war between the accounting and planning bodies. This, however, probably over-stated the reality.
Observers of Parliamentary events will have noted that the Government sought to push a number of pieces of legislation through during the dying days of the current Parliament which owed their origins to deals struck as part of a broader Government policy agenda.
The legislation legally enshrining the use of the term ‘financial planner/adviser’ was the product of one such deal – and it is a fair bet the TASA legislation owed its passage to similar origins. Political debts may have been paid, but at what cost to the broader financial services industry?
Recommended for you
In this episode of Relative Return, host Laura Dew is joined by Andrew Lockhart, managing partner at Metrics Credit Partners, to discuss the attraction of real estate debt and why it can be a compelling option for portfolio diversification.
In this week’s episode of Relative Return Unplugged, AMP’s chief economist, Shane Oliver, joins us to break down Labor’s budget, focusing on its re-election strategy and cost-of-living support, and cautioning about the long-term impact of structural deficits, increased government spending, and potential risks to productivity growth.
In this episode of Relative Return, host Laura Dew chats with Mark Barnes, head of investment research, and Catherine Yoshimoto, director of product management, from FTSE Russell about markets in Donald Trump's second presidency and how US small caps are faring compared to their large-caps counterpart.
In this episode of Relative Return Unplugged, we examine the push for superannuation tax reforms aimed at saving $10 billion annually, as well as the immense pressure being placed on Treasurer Jim Chalmers ahead of the budget and Deloitte’s warning of a $26.1 billion deficit.