Avoid becoming victim to unscrupulous tax agents

Believe it or not, there are plenty of unregistered agents out there, willing to swoop on innocent victims.

The Australian government’s Tax Practitioners Board is mindful of the damage they can cause, and will run an online advertising campaign to create awareness for consumers of tax practitioner services, to kick off at the start of tax time, during June and July 2021.

The campaign focuses on the illegal activities that unregistered agents using taxpayers’ myGov account details to lodge tax returns can get up to. It can expose consumers to fraud and put their financial and personal information at risk.

The TPB wants the advertisement to encourage individuals and business consumers to chose a properly registered tax practitioner, by checking the TPB Register to ensure their chosen agent is correctly qualified and listed.

All that is required is a quick search of the TPB Register, which includes details of registered agents, as well as some deregistered practitioners (with the reasons for the termination of their registration).

Consumers are encouraged to look for the registered tax practitioner symbol against their preferred agent. The symbol includes the logo/graphic, registration type (i.e. tax agent, BAS agent or financial tax adviser), and the TPB registration number of the tax practitioner.

It’s an easy way to know if they are registered with TPB, and the logo can also be found on a range of business resources, including websites, brochures and business cards.

Only registered agents who meet certain eligibility criteria are allowed to use the symbol.

Other good questions you should ask your accountant early on are details about their qualifications, registration and the professional bodies they belong to, as well as their main client base, specialty areas, fees, how you will submit your paperwork, and who will look after your account.

It’s a good way to check if your tax matters are in the right hands.

The TPA register can be found at: https://www.tpb.gov.au/registrations_search

Further TPA Symbol information can be found at: https://www.tpb.gov.au/look-symbol