Reforms in Federal Taxation Act
The Government of Australia announced in January 2016 the introduction of new Tax Agent Sydney (or PAs) with Sydney listed as the first city for the purpose.
In October 2016 the ANZ Bank has announced that it has decided to merge its 12 Tax Agents offices into the Commonwealth Tax Agent network.
ANZ is the only bank to have decided to combine its local tax practices under the Commonwealth network.
The implementation of the Commonwealth Tax Agent Network will see the number of PAs across Australia increase from 1,200 to around 2,500.
In December 2016 a peak body for Tax Agents was launched by the Commonwealth Tax Agent Network.
The Commonwealth Tax Agent Network Australia was established to be the peak body for all Commonwealth Tax Agents including the local tax practices of the major Australian banks, AMP, EnergyAustralia, Victoria Power, Telstra, Westpac, NAB, and Commonwealth Bank.
The peak body has 12 members representing all Australian states and territories with representation from each state and state and territory tax practice, and a total membership of more than 1500.
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The Commonwealth Tax Agent Network was also established as a clearing house to inform and assist all Tax Agents to be compliant with all local, State, and Commonwealth requirements.
The network promotes a balanced approach to taxation, providing full tax practitioner support to businesses and individuals and assisting the government to secure the future prosperity of the Australian economy.
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In October 2018 the Commonwealth Tax Agent Network was renamed Tax Services Australia and now represents the taxation, business services, and accountancy industry in Australia.
The membership is made up of more than 150 representatives from its tax the accountancy and business services members.
The network is governed by a board of 12 independent directors who represent all the major Tax Agent members.
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A representative body for real estate agents was established in 2015 as a third-party accreditation service.
Real estate agents must be trained and certified by a Real Estate Institute and Australia’s largest real estate training provider, ANZ University.
Elements of this training include accounting knowledge to comply with the Financial Services (Prudential Supervision) Act 2001, the professional conduct rules, and the NFA regulations.
This training replaces training previously provided by the New South Wales Property Services Commission.
Government Transparency reports by Tax Files Australia
National Tax Forum
Education for Public Representation
Economic Law Review
International Legal News
Asia Law Network
Associated Independent Media
University of Melbourne Law Review
Australian Centre for Independent Journalism
Australian Information and Communication Alliance
Town Planning Magazine
Real Estate Institute of Victoria
Australian Human Rights Commission
Taxpayers’ Union
Real Estate Institute of Australia
Australian Institute of Family Studies
Australian Institute of Company Directors
Institute of Chartered Accountants
Real Estate Institute of Australia (Rural)
“Australian Taxation Office” (ATO)
Centre for Policy Development
Policy Research Centre, University of NSW
City Services Portfolio, City of Wollongong
State Economic and Social Development and Commonwealth Tax and individuals.
The network aims to balance the rights of and Federal legislation and processes.
Most PAs will choose to maintain local offices in their local State and Territories, but for those that do not, the governments should consider not requiring taxpayers to make deductions on GST in the first place.
Changing the 20% discount
