Accounting body alleges the ALP misled the public on advice fees

Labor/ALP/Australian-Labor-Party/accountants/tax-advice/Institute-of-Public-Accountants/IPA/andrew-conway/tax-deductions/australian-taxation-office/ATO/

14 May 2019
| By Hannah Wootton |
image
image
expand image

Labor’s estimations on accountants’ fees for providing tax advice are based on a sample size so small that it could be producing “grossly overstated averages”, the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) has claimed, warning that there has been “significant misinformation” spread around the topic.

The Institute’s chief executive, Andrew Conway, said that the figures cited by the Labor party were based on a very small sample and that “in themselves do not justify a policy of capping deductions for tax advice”.

Further, he said that were the numbers used based on aggregated data, they could be overstating averages to the degree that the data was misleading the public as, were this the case, Labor’s predicted savings wouldn’t be realised.

“You can polish the crystal ball as much as you like, it doesn’t mean you will see future savings,” Conway said, calling on Labor to explain the “facts behind the figures”.

“It is misinformation to say that only the rich can access tax deductions; these are accessible by all Australians. It is highly inappropriate to have a universal cap for all taxpayers as circumstances differ; a one-size- fits-all is inequitable.

“Our tax system is complex. Denying deductibility for seeking advice from a trusted adviser is inappropriate.”

Conway also said that the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) data used to reach the estimations was based on the 2016-17 financial year, meaning the label in the income tax return that made up these figures included adviser fees, ATO interest charges and litigation costs.

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

So we are now underwriting criminal scams?...

2 months ago

Glad to see the back of you Steve. You made financial more expensive, not more affordable as you claim, and presided ...

2 months ago

Completely agree Peter. The definition of 'significant change is circumstances relevant to the scope of the advice' is s...

4 months ago

Entireti has unveiled the new name for the AMP financial advice businesses that it acquired last year....

4 weeks 1 day ago

A Sydney financial adviser has been permanently banned from providing any financial services, with the regulator deriding his “lack of integrity, trustworthiness and prof...

3 weeks ago

Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones, has provided further information about the second tranche of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes (DBFO) reforms....

1 week 5 days ago

TOP PERFORMING FUNDS