iscover ‘A leap in logic’: tax agent found guilty of ‘dishonesty’ has case overturned on legal error
BusinessAn accountant’s TPB tax agent registration hangs in the balance after the Federal Court remitted a previous tribunal finding that he was not a “fit and proper person”.
A chartered accountant has been ordered to pay court costs after the Federal Court of Australia remitted the TPB case against him to the Administrative Review Tribunal after a legal error was unveiled through findings of the accountant’s “dishonesty”.
In the previous decision, the tribunal overturned the TPB’s decision to cancel Owen Stanley Free’s tax agent registration on the basis that he was not a “fit and proper person” to be a tax agent, despite making an adverse finding against him.
In its appeal against the tribunal decision, the TPB told the Federal Court that the tribunal’s conclusion that Free was “nonetheless a fit and proper person” for the purposes of being a tax agent was a “leap in logic”, in the backdrop of findings that he had been dishonest.
Free submitted that the tribunal did not find dishonesty, but found that he failed to act with integrity.
“Mr Free’s submission that the Tribunal did not make any finding of dishonesty cannot be accepted when the reasons are reviewed as a whole,” the Federal Court ruled.
Free applied to the TPB for a tax agent registration on 24 September 2020 and declared that he did not “have direct or indirect control over, have overdue tax obligations”, despite accepting that he was aware that his SMSF had outstanding tax lodgment obligations at that time.
That same month, Free was summarily dismissed from his employment at an accounting firm for “an alleged failure to follow reasonable management directions on several occasions and engaging in dishonest conduct”.
Four years later, when lodging a tax agent registration renewal application, Free declared that he did not “have any matters that may affect your good fame, integrity and character... to disclose” despite the Fair Work Commission making adverse findings against him for “dishonesty”.
The tribunal found that Free made a deliberate choice to “not disclose the finding that he had been terminated for reasons that included dishonesty”.
“I conclude that the applicant failed to act with integrity in relation to the statement that there were no matters relevant to his good fame to be disclosed,” the tribunal said.
On 13 February 2025, the TPB terminated Free’s registration as tax agent with a prohibition of reapplication for two years on the basis that he “failed to act with integrity and honesty in his communications with the Board and failed to comply with his tax obligations in respect of his personal affairs,”.
The Administrative Review Tribunal overturned this termination, finding that Free engaged in dishonest conduct and “failed to act with integrity” when applying for a TPB tax agent registration and lodging a tax agent registration, but ruled that Free was a fit and proper person to be a tax agent.
In light of the evidence, the court granted the appeal, finding that the tribunal made this decision in error of law, ordering Free to pay the TPB’s costs and remitting the case for re-determination at the Administrative Review Tribunal.
The case citation: Tax Practitioners Board v Free [2026] FCA 1155 (17 August 2026)
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