Taxpayers who use the services of a tax practitioner will now gain additional protection against the risk of engaging an untrustworthy agent due to increased funding to the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB).

In its budget, the Government has announced it will invest an additional $30.4 million to fund increased investigations by the TPB into high-risk tax practitioners and unregistered preparers. The funding will be delivered over 4 years.

Speaking about the additional funding, the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones said: "We believe this investment will enhance community confidence, support high standards in the tax profession and by removing unscrupulous tax practitioners from practice, will deliver additional revenue lost through tax dodging schemes."

The TPB will use new, data-driven, ‘risk engines’ to better identify tax practitioners who engage in poor and unlawful tax advice, which will improve compliance and raise industry standards.

The funding follows TPB’s recently announced Annual Report for 2021-22 that describes a year in which the TPB was instrumental in providing support to both the public and tax practitioners despite the impacts from natural disasters and the ongoing effects of COVID-19.

Outlining successful highlights of the TPB’s year, the Annual Report describes:

1. Supporting the public, including clients of tax practitioners, by addressing over 1,300 complaints and referrals.

2. Guiding practitioners with policy and advice, so they can assist their clients and improve voluntary compliance.

3. improving community confidence in the system by conducting over 2,212 investigations and reviews, targeting high risk tax practitioners, who may be associated with tax avoidance or evasion.

4. Protecting the Australian community from unregistered advisers, who may prey on vulnerable Australians with fraud or false tax claims. This included seeking court injunctions and penalties to stop misconduct, and practical guidance to over 4,000 former clients to assist in resetting their tax affairs with the ATO.

5. Upholding the high ethical and professional standards of the majority of tax advisers, ensuring egregious misconduct is addressed and sanctioned. The TPB Public Register encourages transparency, supports consumers in selecting the right tax practitioner, and deters future misconduct by noting cases subject to sanctions. Over 1 million searches are made on the TPB Public Register each year. 

6. Working with key partners and stakeholders, including practitioners, professional associations and the ATO to support Australia’s tax and superannuation systems. This includes TPB webinars to enhance skills and standards, attended by over 70,000 tax advisers last year.