The TPB is now proposing to mandate a minimum 120 hours of continuing professional education (CPE) across three years for all practitioners, starting from 1 July.
Tax agents are currently required to complete a minimum of 90 hours over three years, while BAS agents are required to complete 45 hours and tax (financial) advisers 60 hours.
The TPB’s changes, released on Thursday for consultation, will also see each practitioner be required to complete a minimum 20 hours each year.
The change will see the current 10 hours per year minimum requirement for tax agents double, while BAS agents will see a four-fold jump from their current five hours per annum requirement.
Tax (financial) advisers will see their minimum hours nearly triple from seven hours to 20 hours each year.
Other changes put forward by the TPB include allowing a CPE period to be based on a calendar year or financial year, and reducing the record-keeping requirement from six years to five years.
The TPB is also looking to permanently enshrine a COVID-19 concession by allowing educative health and wellbeing activities to count towards a practitioner’s CPE hours, up to a maximum 10 per cent of the new 120 hours requirement.
The regulator notes that such activities could include attending webinars about how to manage stress and self-care, including in relation to the management of staff health and wellbeing.
TPB chair Ian Klug said the changes were required to ensure standards remained contemporary and in line with the 120 hours requirement by the professional accounting bodies and the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA).
“The TPB recognises the increasingly complex environment that businesses operate in and constant changes to taxation laws. The scope of services provided by tax practitioners has also expanded over time,” Mr Klug said.
“The proposed CPE standard of 120 hours over three years equates to less than an hour per week.
“This proposal also aligns with the standard of some other professions and matches the requirements of some professional associations.
“Ongoing education enhances the integrity of the tax profession, better supports client needs, and builds community confidence in the tax system.”
CPA Australia senior manager tax policy Elinor Kasapidis said it was pleasing to see the TPB take on board feedback from the profession after the regulator had proposed last year a strict 40 hours per annum minimum requirement.
“As 2020 amply demonstrated, circumstances may arise from year to year which require flexibility in completing CPD hours,” Ms Kasapidis said.
“It’s appropriate that tax advisers will continue to have the ability to complete their CPE hours over three years.”
The changes are set to kick in from 1 July after the TPB finalises its consultation process, with the regulator noting that it will make “necessary arrangements to ensure a smooth transition to the new CPE requirements”.
The TPB’s exposure drafts are open for feedback from the profession until 11 March.
To achieve 40 hours per year one needs to sit thru the same tax update twice in a month which leaves 7 hours of reading. Stupid.
And how many Practitioners are actually on the TPB – or is it only academics and bureaucrats?
What is TPB thinking? Just to do the job is an exercise in CPD. The tax system is vast and we learn on the job every single day. 120 hours is an extreme measure and extra red tape wont help and will only drive costs up and take us away from doing the work ATO requires us to do.
TPB have not shown what value they provide since receiving our new dues from tax Financial Advisers. they are simply a tax grab and with this unjustifiable increase of CPD points well that is just them trying to justify their own existence. get off our backs TPB.
And if you don’t live in the golden triangle, bounded by Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, you may well incur travel and accommodation costs in getting to suitable courses. Being based in Tasmania presents its own problems, as our potential market is too small for some of the larger providers. And travel during random COVID lockdowns can involve a lot more than a day either side of the course…
Then there’s the older practitioner that looks after SMSFs and the related individual members’ tax returns with no FBT, virtually no GST, no business operations, no active trusts, with over 40 years’ experience and clients who just don’t want to go elsewhere because of the trust that has built up over so many years. I still have to meet these CPE requirements and often repeat the training on these relatively specialised areas just to meet the hours. I gain most of my knowledge from constantly reading articles and news information but that only goes so far towards the obligation, particularly with my professional association. Sadly, I’m looking forward to not renewing my tax practitioner licence next time around – but then they might say, if I can’t tick all their boxes then they would rather not have me.
Maybe the TPB could provide some formal training and acknowledgements and support for the money they take. Talk about fee for no service.
The problem with CPE is that generally, accountants do not have the time and resources to do an average of 40 hours each year. Their priorities are incredibly volatile and make it more difficult to find time to do CPE and on top of that, they do suffer burnout. It makes us wonder why are these government departments pushing for regulations whereas their staff are poorly trained and unqualified to deal with highly professional accountants especially with the lack of regulations of government staff and their accountability! In other words, more regulations and legislation are not the answer but fewer regulations and law.
The CPE requirements are already crazy high. Give us a break. I think the TPB should be lobbying to have complexity and red tape reduced.
Actually, I am a Tax Financial Planner and I have to do 40hours per year + 20hrs for TASA but those will mostly overlap. IT is not even that simple either because I have to do a certain number of points in different areas so by the time you have met your minimums you may have wound up doing 60/70 CPD hours to meet your requirement. I have been in the industry over 20 years and before the last increase it was at least 30hrs If you had CPD it was 40hrs anyway and the same thing, had to get the points up in the right areas.
Just the next thing to increase the cost of financial advice….the sooner tax (financial) advisers are not required to register with the TPB as well as ASIC the better..the endless increase in red tape has to end….one set of CPD is enough. Two lots of 40 hours a year is rediculous…this won’t fly.
Spot on James. The TPB is a complete waste of time and money for tax (financial) advisers. More fees for no benefit. Wind this thing up now, like the did with FARSEA!!!
If you are a specialist SMSF Adviser with the SMSFA you have their CPD too. The whole setup is a an unmitigated joke. I wonder why advice soo expensive??? Idiots.
Try being a Financial Tax Adviser. Hardly any of the CPD overlaps, so you end up having to do 70 or 80 hours a year. That’s 2 weeks folks. 2 weeks the client eventually has to pay for.