Is your tax adviser registered ?
Tax practitioners who provide taxpayers with advice or complete tax returns must be registered with a controlling body and Sars, if they want to be recognised under the new Tax Administration Act.
Those unregistered tax advisers who fail to do so is guilty of a criminal offence.
We advise that taxpayers must make absolutely sure that their tax advisers are registered with Sars and with a controlling body, or else they will face administrative penalties.
The websites of the controlling bodies are equipped with a members’ page, where the taxpayer can verify the credentials of the tax adviser.
This will shield taxpayers from unprofessional conduct by tax practitioners, which could potentially place both their funds and reputation at risk.
The new regulations aim to hold tax practitioners accountable for the advice they give to taxpayers, and also to rid the industry of rogue practitioners.
The Act also gives more teeth to controlling bodies, allowing them to take disciplinary action against practitioners who contravene the controlling body’s rules of conduct.
The new legislation addresses minimum professional qualifications and continuing professional education requirements to be fulfilled by tax practitioners.
Tax advisers with a Grade 10 qualification will not be admitted as tax practitioners at all.
Controlling bodies can now enforce minimum qualifications and continuing educational requirements, ensuring that the taxpaying public is no longer at the mercy of practitioners who are not up to speed with the latest developments.
Taxpayers will now have the comfort of knowing that their tax advisers meet minimum standards, undertake continuing professional education and are subject to a disciplinary code.
The negative is that highly experienced and qualified tax practitioners may not be able to practice legally unless they comply with the requirements of a controlling body, to which they are required to belong.
Some taxpayers may suddenly find they can no longer use the tax practitioners they have used and with whom they have been comfortable for many years.
I think you’ll now see that those practitioners who have taken chances and who have presented themselves as competent tax practitioners — when in fact they are not — will disappear out of the system.
Accounting bodies have welcomed the legislation, saying that the tax profession is now regulated as from July 2013, as are other professions – lawyers, estate agents and insurance brokers.
All members/directors of CCs and companies who are giving tax advice should register individually.
*Johan Vosloo may be contacted on 011-918 5958/3321, and is a professional accountant from Vosloo and Associates, in Boksburg, with a B.Com (Hons) and M.Com (Financial Management).
