FED Interim Suspension Powers for the Tax Practitioners Board

Treasury Laws Amendment (Strengthening Accountability for Tax Adviser Misconduct and Other Measures) Bill 2026

10 Sep 2026: Passed by Parliament and signed off by the governor.

This bill kicks in: TBA

House of Representatives

Senate

Assent

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Topics

BAS agents consumer protection professional registration tax agents tax professional conduct taxation services

Links to official parliament websites

Official page: progress through parliament

Effects of this bill

If this bill passes, it means that:

The Tax Practitioners Board can suspend a tax or BAS agent for up to 90 days; this happens if the agent likely broke a tax law and clients face a significant risk of loss.
Unregistered people commit an offence if they provide tax agent services; this excludes certain legal services.
Unregistered people commit an offence if they provide BAS services for a fee; this excludes legal services and customs brokers.
Unregistered people commit an offence if they advertise tax or BAS services.
Registered tax or BAS agents face civil penalties for breaking the Code of Professional Conduct; fines reach 2,500 penalty units (2026: $910,000) for individuals and 50,000 for companies.
Unregistered people face civil penalties for making misleading statements to the Commissioner or the Board.
Partners in a partnership are each held responsible for civil penalty breaches; a partner must prove they did not help or engage in the conduct to avoid the penalty.
This bill also makes a separate change to merger law: the Federal Court can declare a company merger void if it goes ahead despite being paused for ACCC review, and the ACCC applies to the Court.

The Debate

What different members said when this bill was debated:

Dr Daniel Mulino ALP

“I move: That this bill be now read a second time. This bill amends Treasury legislation to strengthen the integrity of the tax profession, make a range of improvements to our tax system, deliver targeted refinements to Australia’s merger regime, and give force of law to current national competition principles.”

Official source →

Matthew Canavan NAT

“There are lots of industries struggling in this country right now under this government. Lots of areas are doing it quite tough with the economy not doing well with the government raising taxes and with the price of everything going through the roof. Lots of small businesses I see are doing it really tough.”

Official source →

Richard Dowling ALP

“I rise to support the Treasury Laws Amendment (Strengthening Accountability for Tax Adviser Misconduct and Other Measures) Bill 2026. With it having a title like that, you could be forgiven for thinking this is going to be complicated. It’s fair to say that Treasury has once again resisted the temptation of a short title.”

Official source →

Nick McKim GRN

“The Greens will be supporting the Treasury Laws Amendment (Strengthening Accountability for Tax Adviser Misconduct and Other Measures) Bill 2026, and we’re very pleased that, in order to secure our support, the government agreed to extend the current 50 per cent capital gains tax discount for renewable assets from 2030 to 2040.”

Official source →

Deborah O'Neill ALP

“It’s a pleasure to make a contribution on this very important piece of legislation. Even though it’s a little esoteric and inaccessible to many, many people, this is an example of the kind of legislation that is necessary by governments that want to make sure that systems are in place to manage the quality of what’s happening in our financial sector and in the economy.”

Official source →

Sean Bell PHON

“I rise today to talk about the Treasury Laws Amendment (Strengthening Accountability for Tax Adviser Misconduct and Other Measures) Bill 2026. I will foreshadow a second reading amendment to be moved by Senator Hanson on behalf of One Nation, and I’ll get to that shortly.”

Official source →