iscover Federal Court rules against myGov-lodging unregistered agent
RegulationA Brisbane man and his companies have been found to have unlawfully provided tax and BAS agent services on 45 different occasions without holding a registration with the Tax Practitioners Board.
The Federal Court has found that Kent Scott Hacker contravened the Tax Agent Services Act (TASA) by providing tax agent services and BAS services for a fee or reward while not registered to provide those services.
The company, One Stop Global Staffing Pty Ltd, of which Mr Hacker is the sole director and secretary of, was found to have breached the TASA on five occasions.
Mr Hacker’s other company, Naleview Pty Ltd, of which he is a director and secretary of, was found to have contravened the TASA on 37 occasions.
Court-awarded penalties for breaching tax agent services laws can be as high as $52,500 for each offence by an individual and $262,500 by a company.
The Federal Court also found that Mr Hacker and One Stop Global Staffing had failed to comply with a March 2019 undertaking with the court to not provide tax services illegally, as a result of an application brought by the TPB.
In less than a week, Mr Hacker breached the undertaking by preparing an individual’s 2017–18 income tax return by asking the taxpayer to log into his myGov account and lodging through myTax. He then charged him $132, paid to One Stop Global Staffing.
Mr Hacker went on to repeat the service for two other occasions in March 2019, leading the TPB to file a contempt of court application in June 2019.
Despite this, Mr Hacker and One Stop Global Staffing went on to breach their undertaking on a further five occasions, with the TPB filing a second contempt application in November 2019.
It is understood that the TPB filed further contempt applications in March and June 2020, with Mr Hacker and One Stop Global Staffing admitting to the allegations.
A hearing date for penalties has now been set for 28 September.
Jotham Lian
Jotham Lian is the editor of Accountants Daily, the leading source of breaking news, analysis and insight for Australian accounting professionals.
Before joining the team in 2017, Jotham wrote for a range of national mastheads including the Sydney Morning Herald, and Channel NewsAsia.
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