THE Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) is urging all tax practitioners to ensure that they take appropriate steps to validate a taxpayer’s identity, and do not risk compromising client data which may lead to fraud.

It follows a recent case where a registered tax practitioner failed to take appropriate steps in handling and verifying client data. As a result, the TPB determined that the agent breached items of the Code of Professional Conduct in the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 relating to competency, honesty and integrity.

• The registered tax practitioner from Western Sydney, was approached by three individuals who asked him to lodge in excess of 100 income tax returns (ITRs) on behalf of their associated employees. They provided false documentation on behalf of these employees. The agent agreed to lodge these ITRs without undertaking any proper enquiries about the identity of these tax payers. The agent’s recklessness facilitated fake tax returns and in turn fraudulent refunds.

• The TPB terminated the agent’s registration and imposed a five year non-application period. On appeal, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal affirmed the TPB’s termination decision, and varied the non-application period from five years to four years, noting that while there was no direct evidence of dishonesty “…the applicant’s lack of rigour in the conduct of his affairs and his apparent disregard for the duties of his role adds up to something that is almost as bad, and which certainly reflects poorly on his integrity and character. He may not be dishonest, but he has not demonstrated the commitment to competent and conscientious behaviour that one would expect of a tax agent.”

Speaking about this issue, TPB chair, Ian Klug said, "The TPB is concerned to have seen a recent increase in cases relating to poor client verification processes. The verification of client data is of utmost importance in the interaction between tax agent and their client. The TPB is shortly to issue a Practice Note, which aims to give clear guidance on Proof of Identity checks and the policy around them.

"All tax practitioners are bound by the Code of Professional Conduct and failing to take reasonable care when verifying an individual’s identity, acts against the public interest in that it risks inaccurate or fraudulent claims and ultimately erodes trust of the tax profession."

About the Tax Practitioners Board

The TPB regulates tax practitioners in order to protect consumers. The TPB aims to assure the community that tax practitioners meet appropriate standards of professional and ethical conduct. 

Twitter_@TPB_gov_au, LinkedIn and Facebook. 

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THE Queensland Resources Council, the peak organisation for the State’s coal, metal and petroleum producers, explorers and suppliers, has welcomed the release of more than 3000sqkm of land in parts of south west and central Queensland near existing infrastructure to fast-track the gas to market.

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said the resources industry had called on the Palaszczuk Government to release more land for exploration to create jobs, boost exports and drive down energy costs to help stimulate the Queensland economy from the impacts of COVID-19.

“The resources sector has played a critical role in keeping Queenslanders working and earning through COVID-19 and is central to the state’s economic recovery. Allowing industry to responsibly develop gas for both the domestic and export markets  will benefit all Queenslanders” Mr Macfarlane said.

“Senex Energy, State Gas, Comet Ridge and Denison Gas will explore the blocks of land with over 450sqkm assigned with a domestic-only condition.

“Senex has also announced a domestic gas supply agreement with the Northern Oil Refinery near Gladstone with up to 2.5 petajoules of gas which will support 32 jobs directly and hundreds more indirectly.”

Mr Macfarlane said Queensland’s oil and gas industry contributes $8 billion to the State’s economy, supports more than 37,000 full time jobs and invests $2.7 billion with local businesses and community organisations.

www.qrc.org.au

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ENERGY NETWORKS Australia (ENA) has welcomed the recognition of hydrogen and batteries as key parts of the clean energy transition in the Federal Government's Technology Roadmap.

ENA CEO, Andrew Dillon, said the appointment of Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG) CEO Ben Wilson to the ministerial reference group showed the clear role renewable gases would play in our energy future.

"This is not about one technology or another, it's about the right mix to achieve our goals of clean, reliable and affordable energy for Australia," Mr Dillon said.

"Household, distribution and transmission level batteries will play their part along with renewable gases like hydrogen.

"To maximise the value we get from batteries, we need to also improve pricing signals to encourage smart technologies such as household batteries and electric vehicles to charge and discharge when it’s best for everyone. Examples of this are already in practice by SA Power Networks, Western Power and Horizon Power."

Mr Dillon said the goal of producing hydrogen for $2 per kg should also be coupled with targets for blending hydrogen in our distribution networks.

"Our customers prefer using gas for cooking and heating, but they want to see emissions reductions," he said.

"Networks like those owned by AGIG, Jemena and ATCO are already trialling the blending of hydrogen for use in homes and businesses.

"The development of a domestic hydrogen market is an essential step towards getting the price of production down and supporting a viable export market."

An update to the energy industry's Gas Vision 2050 is expected to be released later this week. A collaboration of gas industry associations, this report models the role of gas and renewable gases like hydrogen in future domestic and industrial scenarios.

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THE CO₂ Cooperative Research Centre (CO2CRC) has welcomed today’s release of the first Low Emissions Technology Statement by Angus Taylor, Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, and its recognition of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as one of the five identified priority low emissions technologies for Australia.

“Developing economic ‘stretch’ goals for each priority technology and annual reporting on progress towards these goals provides a measurable commitment to the long-term strategic importance of these areas and an imperative for their cost-effective deployment," CO2CRC chief executive David Byers said.

“As Australia’s leading Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) research organisation, CO2CRC believes that the stretch goal for CCS ($20 per tonne for CO₂ compression, transport and storage) is achievable with the right level of investment in technology development and project deployment.

"This is also consistent with the conclusions of leading independent academic and industry technoeconomic studies. Establishing the goal will encourage the development, application and scaling up of low emission and low-cost technologies, strengthening industry and delivering more jobs.

“Australia is uniquely positioned to be at the forefront of the global scale-up of CCS technologies," he said. "It has ready access to the latest carbon capture and storage technologies and expertise, some of the world’s best deep sedimentary basins in which to store CO₂ and an internationally recognised resources industry and researchers.

"Local and international researchers and industry have also been supported for more than a decade by CO2CRC’s Otway National Research Facility in south west Victoria, which is one of the most advanced field scale CCS research sites globally.

“With around two-thirds of emissions in Australia coming from outside the power generation sector, technologies like CCS with broad application across the economy, are vital to achieving long-term emissions reduction goals while maintaining Australia’s economic resilience.”    

“The value of CCS is its versatility as a technology. Its applications extend from natural gas processing and power generation to steel and cement production, where emissions are hard to abate due to inherent process emissions and high temperature heat requirements," Mr Byers said.

"Producing clean hydrogen from gas or coal paired with CCS also offers the most cost-effective, reliable, and flexible pathway to large-scale hydrogen production.

“CCS projects also offer a large-scale emissions reduction opportunity (millions of tonnes per annum (Mtpa) for 20+ years), which is an order of magnitude higher than many other abatement options.

"For example, the Gorgon LNG Project is progressively ramping up to full capacity of up to 4Mtpa of safe and permanent storage of CO₂. The Victorian CarbonNet Project plans to geologically store around 5Mtpa CO₂ each year and Santos is examining a large-scale commercial CCS project to be located in the Cooper Basin with a scalable potential to store up to 20 Mt of CO₂ per year," he said.

www.co2crc.com.au

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