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Tax agents banned over false SMSF audits
The Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) has terminated the registration of two tax agents who prepared and lodged incorrect self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) annual returns.
Following a referral by the Australian Taxation Office, the TPB discovered the two tax agents falsely stated annual audits had been completed and were found to have acted dishonestly. They had been banned from practice as they were no longer a fit and proper person.
One agent had lodged over 90 SMSF annual returns for more than 20 clients including falsifying auditor details and misleading clients by advising their SMSFs had been audited and charging them for the task.
Justin Micale, assistant commissioner of the ATO’s SMSF Regulatory Branch, said: “The SMSF annual audit is a critical integrity check to ensure the validity and accuracy of an SMSF's financial statements and its compliance with superannuation legislation and regulations.
“The TPB decisions follow referral of intelligence from ATO compliance activity where we have worked with SMSF auditors to identify where their auditor numbers are being deliberately misused.”
TPB chair, Ian Klug, said: “Our decisions reiterate the importance of the relationship between the TPB and the ATO in ensuring that tax practitioners maintain a strong level of integrity in their lodgement activities. Registered tax practitioners are in a privileged position of trust, and it is essential that they ensure their actions uphold the integrity of the tax and superannuation systems”.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
Laura Dew is editor at Super Review. Prior to joining SR, she spent five years working at Investment Week in the UK covering asset and wealth management.
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