WHERE DO I STAND? > BAS Agent Laws

Overview

The BAS Agent Laws are contained within the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (“TASA”) and two related pieces of legislation often referred to as the “Regulations” and the “Transitional Rules”.

The Laws have seen the introduction of a national Tax Practitioners Board who, among other things, oversee and regulate the supply of BAS Services to the public. The Board maintain a public register of Registered BAS Agents at www.tpb.gov.au.

If you are a bookkeeper, then unless you have been registered by the Board as either a BAS Agent or Tax Agent, you cannot render BAS Services to your clients. The legislation imposes a range of civil penalties ranging from $5,500 to $137,500 (per offence) for illegally providing, representing that you provide, or advertising that you provide, BAS services.

BAS services capture the majority of services provided by most bookkeepers. For further information on the types of bookkeeper services that are held to be BAS Services, visit our What is a BAS Service? page.

BAS Agents are subject to a Code of Professional Conduct which imposes a range of obligations, one of which is the compulsion (from 1 July 2011) to hold Professional Indemnity Insurance to a Board-specified level. For further information, visit our P.I. Insurance page.

BAS Agents are also subject to a range of administrative sanctions and civil penalties. Clients of BAS Agents benefit from so-called safe harbour provisions which provide relief from penalties in the case of error or late lodgement by the BAS Agent.

Registration Under the Tax Agent Services Act

In order to become registered as a BAS Agent, Section 20-5 of the TASA requires a bookkeeper to satisfy the Board through a formal application process that they meet certain criteria. Firstly, the applicant must be a “fit and proper person”. Secondly, the applicant must satisfy an educational criterion, which at a minimum requires the attainment of a Certificate IV Financial Services (Accounting) or Certificate IV Financial Services (Bookkeeping). Thirdly, the applicant must demonstrate some 1400 hours of “relevant experience” in the past three years.

The 1400 hours relevant experience is reduced to 1000 hours for members of a Recognised Tax Agent Association. Included among these are the Institute of Chartered Accountants and CPA Australia. 

The new regime also contemplates the emergence of BAS Agent Associations who may assist the Board by providing Board-recognised courses for ongoing professional education and disciplinary purposes. Importantly, being a member of a BAS Agent Association will not in and of itself confer BAS Agent status on a person unless all other registration requirements are met (including 1000 hours of relevant experience).

In all cases, registration is granted for a period of three years.

Registration Under the Transitional Rules

Item 5 of the Transitional Rules provided an opportunity for bookkeepers who were providing exempt BAS services under the former Item 251L laws to continue to do so for up to two years after the transition date of 1 March 2010, provided that they notified the Board of their intent to do so prior to 31 August 2010. It also provided relief for bookkeepers who were providing services that under the former laws did not constitute a BAS Service, but under the new laws, did. An example of this was the installation, configuration and training of accounting software. Bookkeepers who availed themselves of Item 5 of the Transitional Rules can offer BAS Services until 29 February 2012.

Item 14 of the Transitional Rules provides bookkeepers with the ability to attain an initial BAS Agent registration by meeting fewer requirements than would ordinarily be the case. The qualifications and experience requirements are replaced by a less rigorous test that requires the applicant to demonstrate that they have been providing BAS services to a competent standard for a reasonable period. Bookkeepers availing themselves of Item 14 of the Transitional Rules must do so prior to 1 March 2013. The initial period of registration will be three years, unless the bookkeeper has already availed themselves of Item 5, in which case, it appears the additional period of registration granted under Item 14 will extend only until 29 February 2013.

The Role of ABN BAS

The new BAS Agent era has polarised the bookkeeping industry and created two distinct strata of bookkeepers. One stratum comprises those who can legally provide BAS services to the public; the other comprises those who cannot.

This is leading to differences across the bookkeeping industry in terms of what services can be provided and at what cost. While it will likely result in some industry flight or, at the very least, the reshaping of some bookkeeper’s business models, it may also attract new entrants to new opportunities in what will be a forever changed industry.

ABN BAS provides a range of services to both BAS Agents and non-BAS Agents to assist them in negotiating their responsibilities under the BAS Agent Laws.

Legislation

The following links are to the various legislative instruments making up the BAS Agent laws:

Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (2 March 2009)

Explanatory Memorandum to the Tax Agent Services Act 2009

Tax Agent Services (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Act 2009 (Passed 29 October 2009)

Explanatory Statement to the Tax Agent Services (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Act 2009

Tax Agent Services Regulations 2009 (Finalised 13 November 2009)

Explanatory Statement to the Tax Agent Services Regulations 2009