Folio 3 of 6 · The law
3The Code of Professional Conduct
Every registered tax agent and BAS agent is bound by the Code of Professional Conduct, which is section 30-10 of the Tax Agent Services Act 2009. Its seventeen items sit under five headings: honesty and integrity, independence, confidentiality, competence, and other responsibilities.
The Act says the Code “regulates your personal and professional conduct as a registered tax agent or BAS agent”, and that if the Board finds a practitioner has failed to comply, it may caution them, order them to take specified actions, or suspend or terminate their registration.
General information, not legal or tax advice. The Code is quoted here from the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 on the Federal Register of Legislation, in the compilation in force from 1 October 2026 (C2026C00441). The TPB’s Code of Professional Conduct page and its guidance explain how it applies.
3.1The seventeen items
The Code is written to the practitioner, so “you” in it means the tax or BAS agent. Items 1 to 14 and 17 are quoted in full; items 15 and 16 are shortened.
| Item | The Act says |
|---|---|
| Honesty and integrity | |
| (1) | “You must act honestly and with integrity.” |
| (2) | “You must comply with the taxation laws in the conduct of your personal affairs.” |
| (3) | “If: (a) you receive money or other property from or on behalf of a client; and (b) you hold the money or other property on trust; you must account to your client for the money or other property.” |
| Independence | |
| (4) | “You must act lawfully in the best interests of your client.” |
| (5) | “You must have in place adequate arrangements for the management of conflicts of interest that may arise in relation to the activities that you undertake in the capacity of a registered tax agent or BAS agent.” |
| Confidentiality | |
| (6) | “Unless you have a legal duty to do so, you must not disclose any information relating to a client’s affairs to a third party without your client’s permission.” |
| Competence | |
| (7) | “You must ensure that a tax agent service that you provide, or that is provided on your behalf, is provided competently.” |
| (8) | “You must maintain knowledge and skills relevant to the tax agent services that you provide.” |
| (9) | “You must take reasonable care in ascertaining a client’s state of affairs, to the extent that ascertaining the state of those affairs is relevant to a statement you are making or a thing you are doing on behalf of the client.” |
| (10) | “You must take reasonable care to ensure that taxation laws are applied correctly to the circumstances in relation to which you are providing advice to a client.” |
| Other responsibilities | |
| (11) | “You must not knowingly obstruct the proper administration of the taxation laws.” |
| (12) | “You must advise your client of the client’s rights and obligations under the taxation laws that are materially related to the tax agent services you provide.” |
| (13) | “You must maintain professional indemnity insurance that meets the Board’s requirements.” |
| (14) | “You must respond to requests and directions from the Board in a timely, responsible and reasonable manner.” |
| (15), (16) | In short: not to employ or use an entity to provide tax agent services on your behalf if you know, or ought reasonably to know, that it is a “disqualified entity”, unless the Board has approved it (item 15); and not to provide services in connection with an arrangement with an entity you know, or ought reasonably to know, is one (item 16). |
| (17) | “You must comply with any obligations determined under section 30-12.” |
3.2Eight obligations added since 2025
Item 17 lets the Minister add obligations by legislative instrument, and they must relate to the professional and ethical conduct of registered tax and BAS agents. The Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024, registered on 2 July 2024, added eight. The TPB lists them as:
- “Upholding and promoting the ethical standards of the tax profession”
- “False or misleading statements”
- “Conflicts of interest in activities undertaken for government”
- “Maintaining confidentiality in dealings with government”
- “Keeping of proper client records”
- “Ensuring tax agent services provided on your behalf are provided competently”
- “Quality management systems”
- “Keeping your clients informed”
- 1 January 2025The new obligations applied to every tax practitioner outside the group below.
- 1 July 2025They applied to practitioners with 100 or fewer employees as at 31 July 2024, and to new practitioners who registered between 1 August 2024 and 30 June 2025.
Both dates are from the TPB’s Code page. As at October 2026, both dates have passed.
3.3What a practitioner must tell clients
One of the eight, in section 45 of the Determination, is the duty to keep clients informed, in writing and in a prominent, clear way. As the TPB explains it, a practitioner tells clients about the TPB Register, how to complain, and the general rights and obligations on each side when they are engaged or re-engaged, or when a client asks. Certain events of the past 5 years, such as a suspension, a bankruptcy or some convictions, and any conditions on the registration, are disclosed when someone asks to engage the practitioner, and otherwise within 30 days to an existing client who has not already been told. The TPB’s Keeping your clients informed page lists every item and its timing.
The TPB gives one way of meeting the duty: publishing the information on the practitioner’s public website, including it in letters of engagement, and handing clients a copy of the TPB’s Information for clients factsheet. It notes this is not the only way.
3.4The client’s side of the page
The Code binds the practitioner, but the TPB’s page for taxpayers lists obligations on the other side too: be truthful with the information given to the practitioner, keep the required records and provide them on time, co-operate with the practitioner’s requests and meet their due dates, and comply with the tax laws.
The same page says what to expect in return. A practitioner will ask questions to understand the situation, may ask for evidence of claims, and “won’t act illegally, even if it is in your best interests”. That last line echoes item 4: the duty is to act lawfully in the client’s best interests.
3.5When the Code is breached
Under section 30-15, if the Board is satisfied after an investigation that a practitioner has failed to comply with the Code, it may do one or more of four things: give a written caution, make an order, suspend the registration, or terminate it. An order can require a course of education or training, work only under the supervision of another registered agent, providing only specified services, or writing to all current clients about the Board’s findings. A failure to comply with the Code is also a civil penalty provision.
The TPB’s own case studies show these sanctions in use. In one, a BAS agent claimed a GST credit on a vehicle for a client without asking what kind of vehicle it was or seeing evidence that it was for business; the TPB suspended the agent’s registration for 3 months and ordered a course in preparing activity statements. Sanctions other than a written caution then appear on the practitioner’s register entry, as Checking the TPB Register explains.
Balance carried down
Seventeen items in the Act and eight more from the 2024 Determination. Three of them are the easiest for a client to see at work: the duty to act lawfully in their best interests, the duty of reasonable care, and the duty to tell them about the register, the complaints process and any conditions.