If your bookkeeper is currently providing BAS related services (including BAS submission, PAYG and GST law) they may now be required to to be registered with the Tax Practitioners Board as a BAS agent.

HttH Bookkeeping & Business Services Pty Ltd are compliant under this new law and have been granted registration under the transitional regulations. View details of the new legislation here.

New BAS Legislation

From 1 March 2010, new legislation known as the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 took effect. 

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. Only bookkeepers who have applied to the Board for registration as a BAS Agent are permitted to render BAS services to their clients. The laws impose a range of civil penalties ranging from $5,500 to $137,500 (per offence) for bookkeepers illegally providing BAS services.

BAS Agents under the new system are subject to a Code of Professional Conduct which imposes a range of obligations, one of which is the compulsion to hold Professional Indemnity Insurance to a Board-specified level. 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.

In order to become registered as a BAS Agent under the Tax Agent Services Act, a bookkeeper must satisfy the Board 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 a required number of hours of “relevant experience” in the past three years.

Transitional Regulations are also in place to offer bookkeepers a reasonable period of time to meet all of these requirements.

HTTH Bookkeeping & Business Services Pty Ltd - Registration and the New Laws

We are pleased to advise that we will be seeking registration as a BAS Agent under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009. We have already submitted our application to the Tax Practitioners Board and await their approval.

In the meantime, we are considered to be a BAS Agent by virtue of the Transitional Regulations. This is because, prior to the introduction of the new laws, we were legally providing BAS Services as a member of a Recognised Professional Association.

Therefore, as a registered BAS Agent, we can legally provide BAS Services to you under the new laws.

From your perspective, you can take comfort from the knowledge that your BAS Services are being provided by a registered and competent professional organisation, fully compliant with the new legislation.

Information Sourced from the ABN