What Is the Difference Between a Tax Agent and an Accountant?

What counts as a tax agent service

Under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009, a tax agent service is one that involves working out or advising on your liabilities, obligations or entitlements under a tax law, or representing you in dealings with the ATO, where you can reasonably be expected to rely on it. Preparing and lodging your income tax return is the obvious example. Tax advice about your circumstances, objections and dealing with an ATO review are also tax agent services.

Anyone who provides these services for a fee or other reward must be registered with the TPB. Some work an accountant or bookkeeper does is not a tax agent service, so it does not need registration.

• Data entry that does not involve interpreting tax law
• Bank reconciliations
• Installing accounting software without setting tax codes
• General tax information not tailored to your situation
• Advice on state or territory taxes

Accountants who are not registered tax agents

Plenty of accountants do not provide tax agent services: management accountants, financial controllers, in-house accountants and many bookkeepers. Being a Chartered Accountant or CPA does not on its own make someone a registered tax agent either. Registration is a separate step with the TPB, with its own qualification, experience, fit and proper person and insurance requirements.

In practice, most public practice accounting firms that prepare tax returns are registered, or have registered agents who supervise the work. The safest approach is to check the individual or the firm on the TPB register before you hand over your records.

BAS agents: a narrower registration

A registered BAS agent can provide BAS services for a fee, such as preparing and lodging business activity statements, but cannot prepare or lodge income tax returns. Many bookkeepers are registered BAS agents.

The TPB treats reconciling, completing or confirming activity statement figures as a service that needs registration. Entering data without calculating or determining the figures does not. If your bookkeeper prepares and lodges your BAS, check they are registered as a BAS or tax agent.

How to check the TPB register

The TPB public register is free and online. Search by the person's name, business name or registration number. The register shows whether they are currently registered and any conditions on their registration.

The TPB and ATO both warn people to check before engaging anyone. The TPB has warned about unregistered preparers who promise unrealistically large refunds, and it says never to share your myGov password or let anyone prepare or lodge your return through your myGov account.

• Go to tpb.gov.au and open the public register
• Search the individual's name and the firm's name
• Confirm the registration is current, not ceased or terminated
• Check for any conditions on the registration
• Make sure it is a tax agent, not only a BAS agent, if you need a tax return

The Code of Professional Conduct

Every registered tax and BAS agent must follow the Code of Professional Conduct in the Tax Agent Services Act. It covers five areas: honesty and integrity; independence and acting in your best interests, including managing conflicts of interest; confidentiality; competence and reasonable care; and other responsibilities to clients and the regulator.

The Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024 commenced on 1 August 2024 and added eight obligations, including not making false or misleading statements, keeping clients informed of relevant matters, keeping proper client records and maintaining quality management systems. The TPB can impose sanctions on agents who breach the Code.

What happens if someone is not registered

Providing tax agent services for a fee while unregistered is a civil penalty contravention. The maximum is 250 penalty units for an individual and 1,250 penalty units for a company. At the Commonwealth penalty unit of $364, which applies from 1 July 2026, that is 250 x $364 = $91,000 and 1,250 x $364 = $455,000. The TPB took court action against an unregistered tax preparer in September 2025.

For you, the practical risks are bigger than the penalty. An unregistered preparer cannot give you the agent lodgment program dates, and the ATO's safe harbour from certain penalties only applies where the statement was made by a registered tax or BAS agent.