Complying with your personal tax obligations
As a registered tax practitioner, you play a significant role in influencing and supporting the tax system. It is very important for you to keep your personal tax obligations up to date in line with community expectations and taxation laws.
In addition to your obligations under the taxation laws generally, the Code of Professional Conduct (Code) requires you to comply with the taxation laws in the conduct of your personal affairs (Code item 2).
You must make sure your personal tax affairs, including those of related entities, are in order, such as:
lodging your personal income tax returns on time
lodging your instalment or business activity statements on time
paying your tax bill or coming to an arrangement with the Australian Taxation Office to pay amounts owing.
If we find that you have failed to comply with your personal tax obligations (including those of related entities), the Board Conduct Committee (BCC) may decide that you have breached Code item 2 and impose a sanction which may include:
issuing you with a formal written caution
issuing an order that you must comply with
suspending your registration
terminating your registration.
Failing to disclose outstanding personal tax obligations
We ask you to declare if you have any outstanding personal tax obligations in your registration renewal and annual declaration forms.
While it's important to ensure your personal tax obligations (including those of related entities) are up to date, it is equally important that you disclose any outstanding tax obligations in these forms.
If we find that you have failed to disclose your outstanding obligations, the BCC may find that you have breached Code item 1 (Acting honestly and with integrity) and impose a sanction as outlined above.
Last modified: 22 January 2021