TPB confirms 35 higher risk breach crack-down
The Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) has flagged a crack-down on tax practitioners who have been failing in their own tax obligations, pointing to 35 specific investigations which might result in sanctions.
The chair of the TPB, Ian Klug pointed to the 35 investigations into “higher risk breaches” while acknowledging that $40 million had been recouped in outstanding tax bills after the TPB commenced action against thousands of practitioners who had fallen behind in their own obligations.
Klug said the TPB has commenced 35 investigations into higher risk breaches, with a view to imposing sanctions, including termination of registration.
“The message to tax practitioners is clear – you need to act now to ensure your personal tax obligations are up to date,” he said.
At the same time, Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Assistant Commissioner, Dana Fleming noted this was especially important for tax practitioners who acted as trustees for their own self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF).
“This is particularly the case when some practitioners were found to be acting as trustees of their own SMSF, with collective outstanding returns of over a billion Australian dollars in superannuation retirement assets,” Fleming said.
Fleming said over 1,000 SMSF late returns had now been lodged by tax agent trustees, disclosing total assets exceeding $500 million.
“We continue to target tax practitioners who fail their legal and ethical responsibilities and the ATO is separately pursuing agent cases, including debt recovery litigation and prosecution actions.”
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