Support for Registered BAS Agents

MELBOURNE, Australia, Nov. 25 -- The Institute of Public Accountants (formerly the National Institute of Accountants) issued the following news release:

BAS services must be provided by practitioners registered with the Tax Practitioner Board (TPB) and before engaging a BAS or Tax agent, businesses should always ask the question: are you registered?

That's the key message from the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA).

"Many businesses are still unaware that their use of an unregistered practitioners could be to their peril and may result in their exposure to penalties and interest that would otherwise be avoided due to the safe harbour consumer protection provisions of the Tax Agent Services Act (TASA)," said IPA chief executive officer, Andrew Conway.

"It's also interesting to note a number of membership associations emerging for the BAS and Tax Agent profession and we hope these new organisations reinforce the message of the need to be registered.

"Holders of the IPA's Public BAS Practitioner certification must satisfy both IA membership requirements and hold the requisite registration issued by the Tax Practitioners Board. We believe this is essential to providing ongoing valuable services to businesses and to enhance consumer confidence.

"The IPA members holding this designation receive ongoing technical support and training, along with many other benefits including competitive professional indemnity insurance, dedicated partner offerings and promotion of their services through the IPA website," said Mr Conway.

BAS agents registered with the TPB can find more information on the IPA web-site at: /become-a-member/public-bas-practitioner (http://www.publicaccountants.org.au/become-a-member/public-bas-practitioner)

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