FAQs BAS agent registration deadline: what you need to know by 29 January

The Institute has received notice from the Tax Practitioners Board advising that the Chartered Accountants (CA) program will not be treated as an approved course in basic GST/BAS taxation principles, as the Board considers that it does not contain enough detailed BAS content and practical 'form-filling' for it to qualify. This outcome is disappointing to the Institute and anomalous as the CA program has adequate tax content and competency skills to allow members to register as a tax agent and provide tax agent services (including BAS services).

The Institute proposes to now raise this issue with the government as part of the upcoming post-implementation review of the Tax Agent Services Regime. In the meantime, members wanting to provide BAS agent services have some alternative options to register and provide BAS agent services. 

There are currently three possible avenues for registering to provide BAS services:

• Registration as a BAS agent under the standard rules – as the CA program is a post-graduate degree award, the Board has confirmed the CA program meets the first requirement of being ‘at least a Certificate IV Financial Services (Accounting)’. While the CA program is not an approved basic GST/BAS course, members can complete a ‘challenge test’ to demonstrate their GST/BAS competency, which will then mean that members do satisfy the two academic requirements for registering as a BAS agent. The Board considers this type of competency test as sufficient enough to regard you as having done ‘a course in basic GST/BAS taxation principles’ by way of ‘recognised prior learning’.
  
  (The Institute is currently working with the Board on developing an approved challenge test, and we expect to be able to offer the challenge test early in 2012. We are aware that approved challenge tests currently exist in the market should members need to do this before the Institute’s test is available, however members should note that it is our understanding that such challenge tests take several weeks to arrange and complete, which may mean this approach is not suitable if you are wanting to rely on the test outcome to replace your current two-year BAS registration (notification) which will expire on 29 February 2012 with a standard BAS registration, as you must lodge your BAS registration application for renewal by 29 January 2012. In this case, the Institute recommends that you ensure your BAS registration continues by lodging a further transitional BAS agent registration by 29 January 2012).

• Transitional BAS agent registration (Special rule 14) – if you have not yet met the full education and experience requirements to register under the standard rules, this avenue is open for the first three years of the TAS regime. If you have provided BAS services to a competent standard and for a reasonable period (generally at least 700 hours over the last two years). You can demonstrate competency by a reference from your employer or principal, or from another tax agent, BAS agent or other person who is familiar with your work. If you are unable to obtain a certificate or reference from your employer or principal, a submission should be included with your application for registration, which the Board will consider on its merits.
  
  Note that where you have already obtained a two-year BAS registration (under the notification method), if you renew under this further transitional avenue, the Board may only grant you a further 12-month registration period, rather than the standard 3 year period. The further 12 months is intended to allow you this final grace period to complete all academic and experience requirements to register under the standard rules. Members should be aware that no other transitional avenues will exist for registering after 28 February 2013, so all transitional BAS applications must be lodged by 28 February 2013.

• Registration as a specialist tax agent (restricted to BAS services only) under the standard rules - if you only want to provide BAS services, you can apply for registration as a tax agent with a condition or restriction. Note that you do not need to lodge income tax returns to become a tax agent, as was the case historically under the former tax agent/nominee regime. The Tax Agent Services Regime is intended to cover a much broader range of tax practitioners now. The relevant experience you would state in such an application would be all the BAS-related services that you have provided, e.g. BAS returns, BAS advice and other BAS bookkeeping services.
  
  There are 6 different avenues under which you may qualify as a tax agent, so for CA members this approach is substantially more flexible than the BAS agent registration requirements. The length of the relevant experience required depends upon which of the six avenues you are applying under. Item 203 (Diploma or higher award) and Item 206 (professional association membership) tend to be commonly used avenues as both of these avoid the need for having three commercial law subjects (however please note, Item 203 will require commercial law from 1 March 2013).
  

Yes, the application fees differ between tax agent and BAS agent registrations, and between business (entity/principal), and non-business (employee) applicants.  The fees are currently:

• $500 - for registration as a tax agent who carries on a business as a tax agent
• $250 - for registration as a tax agent who does not carry on a business as a tax agent
• $100 - for registration as a BAS agent who carries on a business as a BAS agent
• $50 - for registration as a BAS agent who does not carry on a business as a BAS agent.

For transitional BAS agent registrations (under Special rule 14), the standard BAS agent registration fees are also applicable. This is in contrast to transitional registrations under the notification method where no fee was applicable for obtaining the registration.

Yes, this is because you are providing services in your own right, for a fee, and they may be a BAS service. For instance, if you are required to assist clients in complex issues with their BAS and/or assistance with lodgment when clients’ bookkeepers are away, or you offer management accounting services involving reviewing and changing a client’s chart of accounts and tax codes in those accounts (BAS services which may require you to register are discussed further below).

If you contract through an entity, such as a company or a partnership, you may require at least two registrations, one for the tax agent entity, and one individual tax agent registration to support the entity’s registration.

No, because you are an employee, you are not providing services in your own right for a fee, regardless of whether the activities you undertake are of a kind that would otherwise be a BAS service.

Under amendments contained in Tax Agent Services Amendment Regulations 2010 (No. 1)., in-house services have been excluded from being tax agent services, with the result that in-house tax employees should not be required to register by reason alone of intra-group charges being made for group tax services.

The Board has provided examples of the types of services which, if provided for a fee or reward, may constitute a BAS service under the Tas Agent Services Regime law. These include:

• Installing computer accounting software and determining default GST and other codes tailored to the client
• Coding tax invoices and transferring data onto a computer program for clients
• Reconciling BAS provision data entry to ascertain the figures to be included on a client’s activity statement
• Filling in the activity statement on behalf of an entity or instructing the entity which figures to include
• Ascertaining the withholding obligations for the employees’ of your clients. This includes the preparation of payment summaries.

For a service to be a BAS service, however, it must be provided in circumstances where the entity can reasonably be expected to rely on the service for the purpose of satisfying liabilities or obligations that arise, or could arise, under a BAS provision and/or to claim entitlements that arise, or could arise, under a BAS provision.

As such, coding tax invoices and transferring data onto a computer program for clients under the instruction and supervision of a registered BAS agent is not a BAS service.

Other examples of services that are not BAS services include pure data entry, or preparing bank reconciliations. This is because a BAS service must relate to:

• Ascertaining liabilities, obligations or entitlements of an entity that arise, or could arise, under a BAS provision,
• Advising an entity about liabilities, obligations or entitlements of an entity or another entity that arise, or could arise, under a BAS provision, or
• Representing an entity in their dealings with the Commissioner of Taxation.

A BAS provision includes:

• GST law
• Wine equalisation tax law
• Luxury car tax law
• Fuel tax law
• Fringe benefits tax law (relating to collection and recovery only)
• PAYG withholding
• PAYG instalments.
  

For a service to be a BAS service, it must be provided in circumstances where the entity can reasonably be expected to rely on the service for the purpose of satisfying liabilities or obligations that arise, or could arise, under a BAS provision and/or to claim entitlements that arise, or could arise, under a BAS provision.

While the Board will consider a disclaimer in determining if a person could reasonably be expected to rely on a service, the Board notes that the mere existence of a disclaimer alone will not be determinative of whether any reliance was placed on the services and was reasonable. Evidence of other in-house practices and procedures that limit the service may also be relevant, as will other evidence of the circumstances.

Such evidence may be, for example, if you can demonstrate that the services were provided for clients but under the instruction and supervision of, or otherwise reviewed by, a registered BAS agent.

If you are unregistered and provide BAS services for a fee or other reward, you may be in breach of the civil penalty provisions under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009. Similarly, if you advertise that you will provide BAS services, or represent yourself as a registered BAS agent while you are unregistered you may also be in contravention of those provisions.

Civil penalties of up to $27,500 for an individual may apply for breach of the civil penalty provisions.