Australia: Checking an adviser's credentials

The Tax Agent Services Act 2009 sets out a Code of Professional Conduct that applies to registered tax agents and BAS agents: among other things, to act honestly and with integrity, to act competently, and to take reasonable care. The Tax Practitioners Board administers the Code, and the Act provides sanctions for failure to comply.1Source 1Tax Agent Services Act 2009, sections 30-5, 30-10 and 30-15 (Compilation No. 27, 1 October 2026). A determination made under the Act in 2024 adds further obligations, including one on false or misleading statements.2Source 2Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024, section 15. The Act also makes registration a requirement: a person who provides a service they know, or ought reasonably to know, is a tax agent service, and charges a fee for it, must be a registered tax agent, with civil penalties for doing so unregistered.3Source 3Tax Agent Services Act 2009, Compilation No. 27 (authorised version C2026C00441), sections 50-5, 60-135 and 60-140.

The Board must establish and maintain a register of registered tax agents and BAS agents and make it available for inspection on the internet, and must publish notice of terminations and suspensions.3Source 3Tax Agent Services Act 2009, Compilation No. 27 (authorised version C2026C00441), sections 50-5, 60-135 and 60-140. The TPB Register asks "Is your tax practitioner registered?" and can be searched by practitioner name, registration number, registered business name, practitioner type and state or suburb. It shows the registration status, including whether an agent is registered with a sanction, suspended, or unregistered following a termination or a publication decision.4Source 4Tax Practitioners Board, TPB Register, read 13 October 2026. Ask the adviser for the registration number of each person who will prepare your claim, look them up, and keep the result with the engagement letter.

A registered tax agent may also belong to a professional accounting or tax body, whose rules bind its members and whose complaints process is a further route if something goes wrong. Ask which body each named person belongs to and under what membership number, and look the names up with that body.

The company registers its R&D activities with the Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR) and claims the offset in its own income tax return, and the department says the company is responsible for making sure the activities it registers are eligible.5Source 5Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Assuring integrity in the R&D Tax Incentive (business.gov.au). Ask who will prepare the registration and the activity descriptions, and who will lodge the return and under whose registration. Ask whether the people who write the descriptions are the same people who will deal with the department or the ATO if questions come. The who is named on the claim? page covers the question in general.

A register entry tells you that the person is registered under the Act and bound by the Code. A professional body listing tells you that the person is a member of that body and bound by its rules. Neither tells you whether the person has prepared R&D Tax Incentive claims before, who will write your activity descriptions, or whether help with a DISR examination or an ATO review is in the price. Those come from the twenty questions and the engagement letter. Charging a fee for a tax agent service without registration is a contravention of the Act, and the Board's complaints form has a category for unregistered preparers.3Source 3Tax Agent Services Act 2009, Compilation No. 27 (authorised version C2026C00441), sections 50-5, 60-135 and 60-140. 6Source 6Tax Practitioners Board, Complaints (online form), read 13 October 2026. Not everyone who works on a claim provides a tax agent service, though. Ask which part of the work each person does and who will lodge the return under their registration. A person who is not on the register is a reason to ask why before you go further.

• What is the registration number of each person who will prepare our claim?
• Which professional body does each named person belong to, and under what membership number?
• Who will write the activity descriptions, and will they talk to the people who did the work? (Who will do the technical work?)
• Do you pay or receive referral fees for introductions, and will you tell us in writing? (Do you pay or receive referral fees?)

• What qualifications does the team have? and named people with qualifications you can check
• Your responsibility and complaints about an adviser in Australia
• Reference check guide

Sources

1. Tax Agent Services Act 2009, sections 30-5, 30-10 and 30-15 (Compilation No. 27, 1 October 2026).  Back
2. Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024, section 15.  Back
3. Tax Agent Services Act 2009, Compilation No. 27 (authorised version C2026C00441), sections 50-5, 60-135 and 60-140.    Back
4. Tax Practitioners Board, TPB Register, read 13 October 2026.  Back
5. Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Assuring integrity in the R&D Tax Incentive (business.gov.au).  Back
6. Tax Practitioners Board, Complaints (online form), read 13 October 2026.  Back