Login
iscover
Age demographics for the tax agent population indicate that over half of all tax agents are over the age of 50, while only 1 per cent are below 30.
TPB statistics reveal ageing tax practitioner population
17 June 2025
•
8 minute read
The Tax Practitioners Board has shared recent demographic data about the registered tax practitioner population, indicating that the majority of the tax practitioner population is over the age of 50.
According to the TPB data as of 30 April 2025, 58 per cent of individual tax agents are now over the age of 50, while 65 per cent of individual BAS agents are over 50.
You’re out of free articles for this month
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
For individual tax agents, the largest cohort is currently the 60-plus age group, which represents 32 per cent of the entire tax agent population, followed by the 40–49 age group at 28 per cent.
Only 1 per cent of the tax agent population is below the age of 30, which was also the case for the BAS agent population.
Among BAS agents, the largest age group is the 50–59 age group, which accounts for 35 per cent of the population, followed by the 60-plus age group, accounting for 30 per cent of all BAS agents.
The age demographics of CPA members, provided in the CPA Australia 2023 annual report, were slightly younger compared to the TPB's latest data for the registered agent population. The 30—39 age group and the 40-49 age group were the biggest age cohorts in the CPA membership population, at 28 and 30 per cent respectively.
CPA members below the age of 30 represented 6 per cent of the membership, while those aged 50 and above represented 35 per cent of the total membership.
Among members of the Institute of Public Accountants, the average age of a member is 51.
Northern Beaches Chartered Accountant Joe Kaleb said the lack of younger practitioners entering the accounting profession has been an issue for some time.
Kaleb, who founded the Make Accounting Great Again campaign to help increase the number of younger accountants, said the age demographics don't paint a positive picture for the future of accounting.
"There is not going to be enough people coming through to replace the ones who are retiring or just leaving the profession, which is currently happening in big numbers," he said.
Kaleb acknowledged that while the professional bodies were trying to run their own campaigns to attract the younger generations by going to schools and career nights and other initiatives, more needed to be done to spark the interest of the younger generation.
He also said it was important that universities are keeping up with the evolution of the profession with what they teach in terms of new technologies and the soft skills needed for providing advisory services.
"We've got to get to the young people and that's what I'm trying to do with my Make Accounting Great Again campaign," he said.
More than half of tax and BAS agents don't belong to a professional body
TPB chair Peter de Cure said the statistics also revealed that over half of tax practitioners did not belong to a recognised professional association.
"Interestingly, overall 47 per cent of individual tax practitioners are members of a recognised professional association, which means that just over half of our population are not members of one of the main professional bodies and work mainly with the TPB in terms of their professional and ethical standards," de Cure said in a recent TPB webinar.
The TPB also outlined in the webinar that there is now a total of 63,742 tax practitioners, comprising 46,849 tax agents and 16,893 BAS agents.
"Of the nearly 47,000 tax agents, nearly 68 per cent of the agents are individuals. The other 32 per cent are partnerships and companies," de Cure said.
"Of the BAS agents, approximately 78 per cent are individuals and 22 per cent are BAS agent partnerships and companies."
You need to be a member to post comments. Become a member for free today!
