Community, Mum and Dad Small Business's and everyday Australians will miss out on essential tax advice if the Assistant Treasurer gets his way.

Introduction:

We, the undersigned, are calling for urgent action to address the unfair and unworkable new tax rules introduced by the Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024. These rules are placing an undue burden on small accounting practices across Australia and threaten the viability of our essential services.

Background:

The new tax rules include a range of measures that small accounting practices must implement by 1 August 2024. These measures are materially different from the draft rules our industry professional bodies provided feedback about, and they are simply impossible for small businesses to comply with in such a short timeframe. The measures were passed into law on 1 July 2024. 

Why This is Important:

The final new rule (S45 – Keeping your clients informed of all relevant matters) is particularly concerning. It requires accountants to disclose all past professional and personal matters to the public on their business websites and in engagement letters. This includes:

• Health issues
• Mental health issues
• Partnership disputes
• Staff shortages
• Political, religious, and social views
• Family issues

This requirement is an invasion of personal privacy and goes beyond what is necessary for transparency and accountability. It places an unreasonable burden on small accounting practices and exposes personal information that should remain private.

Call to Action:

We request the following actions to be taken immediately:

• Pressure the Assistant Treasurer, Stephen Jones, to offer more clarity on what "any matter" means for the purposes of making public declarations. Preferably, they could immediately put in place an amendment to the existing Code to change "any matter" to "any matter related to the Tax Practitioners Board" or similar, so as to expressly remove the requirement to disclose publicly an accountant’s personal, religious, and political beliefs and their personal mental health and family matters.
• Implore any arm of Government that is legislating in response to the Senate enquiry into ethical breaches of the Big 4 accounting practices to recognise that small practices are not big practices and to refrain from passing laws that apply to accounting practices of all sizes. Our industry bodies, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, The Institute of Public Accountants, and CPA Australia made this distinction clear during Senate enquiries but appear to have been ignored.
• Demand the Minister revert to normal consultation and have their powers removed and reverted back to the existing framework for small and medium accounting firms.
  Sign the Petition:

Join us in supporting this cause. By signing this petition, you are standing up for small accounting practices and ensuring that we can continue to serve our clients and support the Australian economy without being overwhelmed by unworkable and invasive regulations.