Qualifications and experience to provide tax (financial) advice services

From 1 January 2022, to provide tax (financial) advice services for a fee or other reward, you must be either:

a qualified tax relevant provider (QTRP) (that is, a relevant provider with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) who satisfies the requirements of the Corporations (Relevant Providers—Education and Training Standards) Determination 2021) if you provide advice to retail clients, or
a tax agent registered with the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB).

The Tax Agent Services Regulations 2022 (TASR) include four new pathways to enable persons to register with us as tax agents.

To register with us through one of these new pathways, the TASR requires for pathways (or TASR Items) 207 to 210 that you:

are an Australian financial services (AFS) licensee or a representative of an AFS licensee at the time of your application, or
have been an AFS licensee or a representative of an AFS licensee within the 90 days preceding your application.

Summary of the qualifications and experience requirements

The following table summarises the qualifications and experience requirements under four pathways (or TASR Items) for individuals to register as a tax agent.

Item	Primary qualification	Board approved courses		Relevant tax (financial) advice experience
Item	Primary qualification	Australian taxation law ^[1]	Commercial law	Relevant tax (financial) advice experience
207 Tertiary qualifications	Degree or post-graduate award in a relevant discipline^[2]			Equivalent of 1 year full time experience in past 5 years
208 Diploma or higher award	Diploma or higher award in a relevant discipline^[2]			Equivalent of 18 months full time experience in past 5 years
209 Work experience	Not required			Equivalent of 3 years full time experience in past 5 years
210 Membership of professional association	Voting member of a recognised tax agent association			Equivalent of 6 years full time experience in past 8 years

¹^{Must include a component in the Tax Agent Services Act 2009, including the Code of Professional Conduct.}
²^{A relevant discipline includes: finance, financial planning, commerce, economics, business, tax, accounting or law.}

Download a copy of the summary table as a PDF (36 KB)

Requirements for financial services licensees and their representatives under the TASR Items 207 to 210

Item 207 – Tertiary qualifications

To meet the requirements under Item 207, you must have:

been awarded a degree or a post-graduate award from an Australian tertiary education institution (or a degree or award that is approved by the Board from an equivalent institution) in a ‘relevant discipline’
completed a Board approved course in commercial law
completed a Board approved course in Australian taxation law
one year of full-time relevant tax (financial) advice experience (or part time equilvalent) in the last 5 years.

A ‘Relevant discipline’ includes: finance, financial planning, commerce, economics, business, tax, accounting or law.

Item 208 – Diploma or higher award

To meet the requirements under Item 208, you must have:

been awarded a diploma or higher award from a registered training organisation or an equivalent institution in a ‘relevant discipline’
completed a Board approved course in commercial law
completed a Board approved course in Australian taxation law
18 months of full-time relevant tax (financial) advice experience (or part time equivalent) in the last 5 years.

A ‘Relevant discipline’ includes: finance, financial planning, commerce, economics, business, tax, accounting or law.

Item 209 – Work experience

To meet the requirements under Item 209, you must have:

completed a Board approved course in commercial law
completed a Board approved course in Australian taxation law
three years of full-time relevant tax (financial) advice experience (or part time equivalent) in the last 5 years.

Item 210 – Membership of professional association

To meet the requirements under Item 210, you must:

be a voting member of a recognised tax agent association
have six years of full-time, relevant tax (financial) advice experience (or part time equivalent) in the last 8 years.

Board approved courses

To meet the qualification requirements under TASR Items 207, 208, or 209, you will need to have completed:

a Board approved course in Australian taxation law (i.e. one unit in taxation law covering the required topics)
a Board approved course in commercial law (i.e. one unit in commercial law covering the required topics).

These courses may have been covered in your primary qualification.

Your Australian taxation law course should include a component in the Tax Agent Services Act 2009, including the Code of Professional Conduct (Code). Otherwise, you must have completed a separate unit covering this component.

You can check if courses and units have been approved by the Board using Qualifications check.

Qualifications check

To find out more about the key requirements for a Board approved course in the above subject areas, refer to Board approved courses requirements to provide tax (financial) advice services.

Relevant tax (financial) advice experience

Relevant tax (financial) advice experience can include work:

as a registered tax agent
as a registered tax (financial) adviser before 1 January 2022
as a qualified tax relevant provider
under the supervision and control of a:
- registered tax (financial) adviser before 1 January 2022
- registered tax agent
- qualified tax relevant provider
of another kind approved by us.

For more information about the amount and types of relevant experience you need to demonstrate when applying to register or renew your registration, visit Relevant tax (financial) advice experience for tax agents.

Further information

Last modified: 2 June 2023