Tax Agent Services Act (TASA) 2009 for Tax Agents

The Tax Agent Services Act 2009 sets Australia’s registration and conduct rules for tax and BAS agents. Known as TASA, it gives the Tax Practitioners Board powers to investigate misconduct and impose sanctions. Your practice must meet these obligations while serving clients.

What the Act Does in One Paragraph

TASA establishes the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB), requires registration for paid tax agent services and sets the Code of Professional Conduct. It also gives the TPB investigation and enforcement powers. The TPB administers TASA, while the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) administers the taxes your clients pay. The Tax Agent Services Regulations 2022 and supporting instruments add registration requirements and further rules. These include the Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024.

The national TPB replaced the state-based Tax Agents’ Boards when the new registration regime began in 2010. If you know the regulator as the tax agent board, TPB is the name used on current registrations, register entries and sanctions. Parliament’s account of the change to a national board explains that transition.

Registration, the Register and Who Can Charge

You must be registered to provide tax agent or BAS services for a fee or other reward, subject to statutory exceptions. Unregistered providers can face civil penalties, and the strengthened enforcement regime also includes criminal offences for unregistered conduct.

A tax agent service includes working out or advising on tax obligations or entitlements, or representing someone in dealings with the Commissioner. The client must reasonably be expected to rely on that service to meet tax obligations or claim entitlements. This definition reaches beyond preparing a return. The TPB’s tax agent services guidance explains the definition and exclusions. A BAS agent’s permitted work has a narrower scope, covered in BAS agent services.

Individual applicants must be at least 18. They must be fit and proper and meet the relevant qualifications and experience requirements. They must maintain, or be able to maintain, the required professional indemnity insurance. Companies and partnerships have separate eligibility requirements, including enough registered individuals to provide competent services and supervision. Use the tax agent registration guide for the application steps.

The TPB public register guidance explains how to search by name or registration number. Check the actual entity you will engage, its registration type, expiry and any conditions. The register also shows relevant sanctions, reasons, investigation publication decisions and certain integrity-based application refusals. Written cautions are excluded from published sanctions. A clear search result alone cannot establish that someone has no disqualifying event.

The Code and the TPB’s Sanctions

The Code is part of TASA, and the Act lets the Minister add obligations through a legislative determination. Both apply to registered tax and BAS agents. For each duty’s practical application, use the TPB Code of Professional Conduct guide.

After finding a Code breach, the TPB can give a written caution or make an order. Orders can require training, supervision, restrictions on work or notification to clients. The TPB can also suspend or terminate registration. These administrative sanctions can affect whether your practice can continue the work it has accepted.

The strengthened sanctions regime adds infringement notices for prescribed contraventions and enforceable undertakings. It also allows interim and contingent suspensions in specified circumstances. The TPB can pursue civil penalties in the Federal Court, including for Code breaches. Criminal offences apply to specified unregistered conduct. Following termination, the maximum period before reapplying for registration is now 10 years.

An investigation can follow a complaint, referral or the TPB’s own enquiries. The TPB can require documents and witness evidence. Its investigation procedure gives practitioners an opportunity to respond to allegations and proposed findings. Interim suspension can occur before an investigation finishes when the statutory risk conditions apply.

Certain decisions can be reviewed by the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART). The TPB’s administrative appeals guidance lists the decisions and the 28-day application period after receiving a reviewable decision. Read the notice promptly and identify whether review or a stay application is needed.

Recent Amendments and When They Started

The reforms implement recommendations from the independent review of the TPB and TASA. They also respond to misconduct concerns by expanding oversight and making more information available to clients.

The table separates enacted changes from proposals. Each commencement link contains the exact legal boundary and any transitional conditions.

Change	Commencement and application	What it changes for your practice
Disqualified entities and Minister’s Code Determination power	2024; see the amending Act’s commencement table	Check people you employ or use and avoid prohibited arrangements. Additional Code duties can be made by legislative instrument.
Annual registration and breach reporting	2024; application and conduct boundaries are explained in TPB law-change guidance and breach-reporting guidance	New and renewal applications move to an annual cycle. Report qualifying breaches of your own Code duties and those of other registered practitioners.
Expanded register, whistleblower protections and longer investigations	2024; see the Tax Accountability and Fairness Act’s commencement provisions	More integrity and investigation information can be published. The standard investigation period extends from six to 24 months.
Additional Code Determination obligations	2025 application, with different boundaries for employee-count categories in the TPB’s Determination guidance	Put the additional recordkeeping, competency, quality management and client-information duties into practice.
Stronger sanctions	2026; see TPB sanctions commencement details	New enforcement tools and higher civil penalties apply, with longer maximum banning periods. These reforms are enacted.

The Code Determination’s later application period did not delay statutory breach reporting for small practices. The reporting duty applies when you have, or ought to have, reasonable grounds to believe a qualifying significant breach occurred. Historical conduct has its own boundary and ongoing-conduct rules in the TPB guidance.

Treasury has also announced registration modernisation proposals. These cover alternative experience pathways, fit-and-proper assessment and governance requirements for companies and partnerships. They remain proposed reforms, separate from the enacted sanctions changes. The published proposal targets 2027 implementation. An announcement does not change the eligibility rules in the current compiled Act.

What the Act Asks of a Small Practice

Your practice must keep its registration current and organise client work around the Code. Put an owner against each recurring duty:

• Track registration expiry and submit renewals within the permitted period. Use the TPB registration renewal guide to manage the renewal.
• Supervise unregistered staff and contractors and keep their work within the practice’s authorised services.
• Maintain competence and professional indemnity insurance, and follow the Code in client work.
• Notify the TPB of relevant registration changes within the statutory notification period.
• Report significant Code breaches when the reasonable-grounds threshold is met. The 30-day period runs from when you first have, or ought to have, those grounds.
• Obtain TPB approval before employing or using a disqualified entity to provide tax agent services on your behalf. Assess separate restrictions on arrangements with disqualified entities too.

For another registered practitioner’s significant breach, reporting can also extend to their recognised professional association when you know they are a member. Routine suspicions alone do not meet the reporting threshold. The TPB breach-reporting guidance explains the legal test.

Before giving a new hire or contractor client work, search the register and ask about disqualifying events. The TPB’s disqualified-entity guidance explains why the register cannot reveal every relevant event. Record your enquiries and any approval. For new clients, confirm identity and authority under the TPB’s client verification guidance. Obtain and record permission before disclosing client information, unless a legal duty permits or requires disclosure.

In this fictional example, an Australian tax practice engages a contractor to prepare work under its supervision. The principal checks the contractor’s registration history and obtains a declaration about disqualifying events. The contractor discloses a prior sanction that requires further assessment.

The practice pauses the proposed tax work, determines whether TPB approval is required and obtains it before the contractor starts any work needing approval. The contract also requires notification of later disqualifying events. Client-information access follows the agreed work and recorded disclosure permission.

Reading the Act and the TPB’s Guidance

Use the Federal Register of Legislation to read the current compiled Tax Agent Services Act 2009. The compilation brings amendments into one document. Compilation 27 includes the enacted 2026 sanctions reforms.

On the Register, confirm the Act is marked in force and open the latest version. Read its compilation details, then check the endnotes for amending laws and provisions that have not commenced. If you are assessing older conduct, use the version that applied to that conduct and the relevant transitional provisions.

TPB Guidance Statements explain how the regulator interprets and applies the law. Older materials use the names information sheets, explanatory papers and practice notes. Several have been replaced by Guidance Statements, so use the current linked version. Guidance gives practical examples but cannot add obligations beyond the law. For a contractor, reporting incident or registration decision, read the applicable provision alongside its guidance before recording your practice’s action.