FPA to continue push for TASA changes
The Financial Planning Association (FPA) will push for more realistic standards and reforms under the Tax Advisers Services Act (TASA) in the new year, including tax-deductible initial planning consultations.
Recognising that some of the changes lack relevance for planners, FPA chief executive Mark Rantall said the FPA planned to prioritise pushing for more "workable" standards in 2014.
"We want to make sure the training requirements are relevant to financial planning, because we don't believe all of those requirements are as they stand today," he told a media briefing.
Rantall also signalled the FPA's intention to call for tax-deductible initial advice, given that planners will have to be registered tax agents.
"That's going to be a difficult thing to get given the budgetary constraints, but if financial planners have to be registered tax agents, then, by definition, the advice they give should be tax deductible," he said.
Rantall expressed concerns about the administrative burden of the changes — due to kick in from July next year — on planners, saying the FPA would consider rallying for an extension if members were not prepared.
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