Accounting bodies negative on TASA outcome
The major accounting organisations, CPA Australia and the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAA), have lamented the Government's concessions to the financial planning industry in which it extended the implementation of key elements of the Tax Agents Services Act bill.
Having sought to urge the Government not to provide the concessions, CPA and the ICAA claimed the decision to effectively extend the implementation period by sending parts of the legislation off to a committee would be undermining consumer protections.
The two organisations issued a joint statement saying that the House of Representatives had chosen, at this stage, not to proceed with a law which would have provided vital consumer protections.
CPA Australia head of policy Paul Drum said the amendments were "designed to put in place appropriate protections — that don't currently exist — for consumers obtaining tax advice from financial planners".
"Consumers deserve to have access to the highest standards of professional advice from financial planners, which is what this new regulatory framework is aimed at delivering. Parliament's decision means that there will continue to be shortcomings in the standards that apply to the provision of tax advice from financial planners," he said.
His sentiments were echoed by ICAA general manager of leadership and quality, Yasser El-Ansary, who added that there had been three years for everyone to prepare for the reforms, plus three years of transition to the new framework.
"We will now work through another round of consultation, and work with Parliament and its processes to ensure the regulatory framework is passed in the remaining sitting weeks before the election," El-Ansary said.
However both the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) said the decision taken in the Parliament had been appropriate and necessary.
The FPA's manager for policy and conduct, Dante De Gori, said the FPA was concerned that the need to pass legislation was prioritised over the need to follow due process, consult and develop legislation that would actually work.
"Financial Planners are licensed and regulated by ASIC to provide personal financial advice, which includes tax advice within the context of financial advice," he said. "Scare mongering by accounting bodies on this issue has been misleading and unhelpful.
"The fact is that the FOFA [Future of Financial Advice] regime starting on 1 July 2013 implements some of the greatest reforms to the financial advice profession ever seen, in particular the best interest duty. So we are disappointed that the government initially succumbed to this unsubstantiated scare mongering on related issues."
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