FAAA seeks clarity from TPB on adviser exemptions

The Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) has been urged to make clear that financial adviser will not be caught up in the regime around disqualified persons.

The Financial Advice Association of Australia has written to the TPB responding to its changes around the TPB Code of Professional Conduct and the employment of disqualified entities.

The FAAA has noted that information sheets developed by the TPB that appear to exempt financial advisers and has asked that this be confirmed.

“The core membership of the FAAA are financial advisers, although some of our members are also tax agents,” the submission said, “We have therefore undertaken an assessment of these information sheets with an eye to the potential implications for our financial adviser members.”

“We note that the definition of a disqualified person excludes someone who is a ‘qualified tax relevant provider’, which is a term reserved for financial advisers authorised to provide tax (financial) advice services,” it said.

“Despite this reference to qualified tax relevant providers, there is no other clarification of the application of these new Code obligations for financial advisers. We assume that there is no direct application. It may, in our view, be worthwhile explaining that there is no direct applicability to financial advisers as they are not subject to oversight by the TPB.”

“We have however given further thought to this and are conscious that it could be possible for a person who is a former financial adviser to be working in a tax agent or BAS agent practice. In the event that they had been disqualified by ASIC or had been subject to a sanction by the Financial Services and Credit Panel (an entity within ASIC), then they would not necessarily (subject to other criteria) be considered to be a disqualified entity,” the FAAA said.

“It might be worthwhile clarifying that this disqualified entity obligation largely relates to disqualification under the TPB regime.”