This consultation paper seeks feedback and views on proposed reforms that will provide the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) with a stronger and more agile sanctions regime. A robust regime will have a greater deterrence effect on misconduct and will allow the TPB to respond to misconduct in a timely manner, with sanctions that are proportionate to the severity of the contravention of the law. It will also allow the TPB to more adequately and appropriately address contemporary forms of misconduct.

The rationale is to enable the TPB to have the ability to impose sanctions that escalate in severity in response to more serious contravention of the law, as it is neither effective nor equitable to enforce serious penalties against all types of offences. This will allow the TPB to respond to a continuum of attitudes towards compliance by imposing appropriate sanctions in accordance with non-compliant behaviour.

This paper contains the following proposals in relation to the TPB’s sanctions regime:

• criminal penalties for practitioners that operate without a registration with the TPB
• broader and increased civil penalties in the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (Cth) (TASA)
• an infringement notice scheme attached to the civil penalty regime
• a new TPB power to allow it to enter enforceable voluntary undertakings with tax practitioners
• a new TPB power to impose interim and contingent suspensions.

Further proposals to strengthen the regulatory framework, building on the changes to the TPB sanctions regime will be addressed in future Treasury consultations (outlined in Figure 1) throughout the remainder of 2023 and in 2024. 

Closing date for submissions is 21 January 2024.