This information sheet addresses some frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the impact of the Better Advice Act on relevant providers who provide tax (financial) advice services.
obligations on Australian financial services licensees to include information on the Financial Advisers Register about tax (financial) advice services provided by relevant providers they authorise (see Questions 9–10).
Note:
A ‘provisional relevant provider’ is:
a relevant provider who is undertaking work and training in accordance with subsection 921B(4) of the Corporations Act 2001.
‘Relevant financial products’ are financial products other than basic banking products, general insurance products, consumer credit insurance or a combination of any of these products.
A 'relevant provider' is:
an individual who is:
an Australian financial services (AFS) licensee, or
an authorised representative, employee or director of an AFS licensee (or an employee or director of an AFS licensee's related body corporate), and
authorised to provide personal advice to retail clients about relevant financial products.
In this information sheet, where appropriate we refer to these providers as:
'individual tax (financial) advisers' (the term used under the regulatory regime before the Better Advice Act)
'relevant providers' who 'provide tax (financial) advice services' (terms used under the old regulatory regime and under the Better Advice Act as well), or
'qualified tax relevant providers' (a term used in the Better Advice Act).
'Specified courses' are courses in commercial law and taxation law as set out in Division 3 of Part 3 of the Relevant Providers Determination.
For more information about financial adviser registration, see Information Sheet 276 FAQs: Registration of relevant providers (INFO 276) and Information Sheet 277 Registration of relevant providers: Guidance on making declarations (INFO 277).
Regulatory landscape for relevant providers who provide tax (financial) advice services
1. What are tax (financial) advice services?
For the purposes of this information sheet, a tax (financial) advice service is a tax agent service (excluding representing a client to the Commissioner of Taxation) provided by an individual in the course of providing personal advice to retail clients about relevant financial products.
The service must:
relate to ascertaining, or advising about, liabilities, obligations or entitlements under a taxation law, and
be provided in circumstances where the client(s) can reasonably be expected to rely on the service for taxation purposes.
2. What was the regulatory landscape for relevant providers who provided tax (financial) advice services before the Better Advice Act commenced?
Before 1 January 2022, if you were a relevant provider who provided tax (financial) advice services for a fee, the following applied:
You had to be registered with the Tax Practitioners Board as an 'individual tax (financial) adviser' or a 'tax agent', or authorised to provide tax (financial) advice services under a supervisory arrangement.
You had to be authorised to provide personal advice to retail clients about relevant financial products and listed on the Financial Advisers Register as a relevant provider.
You had to meet the education and training standards for tax (financial) advisers set out in the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (Tax Agent Services Act).
3. What is the regulatory landscape for relevant providers who provide tax (financial) advice services after 1 January 2022?
From 1 January 2022, if you are a relevant provider who provides or intends to provide tax (financial) advice services to retail clients for a fee, the following apply:
You must be a ‘qualified tax relevant provider’.
You must be authorised to provide personal advice to retail clients about relevant financial products and listed on the Financial Advisers Register as a relevant provider. You will no longer be regulated by the Tax Practitioners Board unless you are a registered tax agent.
4. I provide or intend to provide tax (financial) advice services. Do I need to register as a qualified tax relevant provider?
No. There is no such thing as ‘qualified tax relevant provider registration’. See Questions 9 and 10 for further information about what is recorded on the Financial Advisers Register about the provision of tax (financial) advice services.
However, registration as a relevant provider is a separate legal requirement that applies to all relevant providers except provisional relevant providers from 16 February 2024, irrespective of whether they provide tax (financial) advice services. For more information about financial adviser registration, see INFO 276 and INFO 277.
Education and training requirements for relevant providers who provide, or intend to provide, tax (financial) advice services
5. Do I need to complete education and training requirements to provide tax (financial) advice services?
Division 3 of Part 3 of the Relevant Providers Determination requires relevant providers who provide tax (financial) advice services to complete specified courses in commercial law and taxation law (the specified courses).
Importantly, some relevant providers are not required to complete the specified courses, either permanently or for a specified period. Table 1 describes the status required by relevant providers to be exempt from completing the specified courses.
Table 1: Exemptions to the requirement to complete the specified courses
Exemption
Description
Permanent exemption
Relevant providers, including provisional relevant providers, who are registered tax agents with the Tax Practitioners Board are exempt from completing the specified courses while the individual is both a relevant provider and a registered tax agent. These relevant providers are considered to have already met the requirement to complete the specified courses.
To be permanently exempt from completing the specified courses, relevant providers must have been:
registered as individual tax (financial) advisers with the Tax Practitioners Board immediately before 1 January 2022, and
relevant providers immediately before 1 January 2022.
These relevant providers are considered to have already met the requirement to complete the specified courses.
To be permanently exempt from completing the specified courses from the date their application was approved by the Tax Practitioners Board, relevant providers must have:
applied to be registered as an individual tax (financial) adviser with the Tax Practitioners Board on or before 31 December 2021 and had their application subsequently approved, and
been relevant providers immediately before 1 January 2022.
These relevant providers are considered to have already met the requirement to complete the specified courses.
Note 1: Relevant providers who are exempt from having to complete the specified courses on the basis that the individual is both a relevant provider and a registered tax agent with the Tax Practitioners Board are exempt only while the individual is both a relevant provider and a registered tax agent. If the relevant provider ceases to be a registered tax agent with the Tax Practitioners Board, they must complete the specified courses. ASIC has contacted relevant providers who were both a relevant provider and a registered tax agent with the Tax Practitioners Board on 20 September 2023. In November 2023, they will be recorded on the Financial Advisers Register as being able to provide tax (financial) advice services, unless their AFS licensee notifies ASIC otherwise.
Note 2: Relevant providers who are permanently exempt from having to complete the specified courses on the basis they are registered with the Tax Practitioners Board as a tax (financial) adviser have been notified by ASIC. They have also been recorded on the Financial Advisers Register as being able to provide tax (financial) advice services, unless their AFS licensee notified ASIC otherwise.
Exemption until 31 December 2025
Existing providers who were also relevant providers immediately before 1 January 2022 have until 31 December 2025 to complete the specified courses. Between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2025, relevant providers who fall within this category are able to provide tax (financial) advice services.
6. Are there CPD requirements that relevant providers who provide tax (financial) advice services are required to meet?
Relevant providers who provide tax (financial) advice services are required to comply with the continuing professional development (CPD) requirements set out in Division 5 of Part 3 of the Relevant Providers Determination. These are tax specific CPD requirements that are in addition to the CPD requirements that all relevant providers (except provisional relevant providers) are required to meet. The CPD requirements set out in the Relevant Providers Determination replace the CPD requirements that applied to tax (financial) advisers under the Tax Agent Services Act.
The CPD requirements do not apply to provisional relevant providers.
7. I am a relevant provider. Can I provide tax (financial) services if I complete the specified courses after 1 January 2022?
If you complete the specified courses after 1 January 2022 and your AFS licensee permits you to provide tax (financial) advice services, you can provide tax (financial) advice services. Your AFS licensee is required to notify ASIC that you can provide tax (financial) advice services using the 'Appoint' or 'Maintain' functions on ASIC Connect.
8. I am a provisional relevant provider. Can I provide tax (financial) advice services?
You can provide tax (financial) advice services while supervised as a provisional relevant provider if you have completed the specified courses or are exempt from having to complete the specified courses: see Question 5.
You are not required to comply with the CPD requirements set out in Division 5 of Part 3 of the Relevant Providers Determination about tax (financial) advice services. However, once you complete your professional year, you must comply with the CPD requirements if you provide or intend to provide tax (financial) advice services.
Your AFS licensee should notify ASIC that you can provide tax (financial) advice services using the 'Appoint' or 'Maintain' functions on ASIC Connect.
Information on the Financial Advisers Register about the provision of tax (financial) advice services
9. What information will ASIC's Financial Advisers Register display about relevant providers who can provide tax (financial) advice services after 1 February 2023?
Since 1 February 2023, the Financial Advisers Register has publicly displayed whether a relevant provider can provide tax (financial) advice services.
Relevant providers who are permanently exempt from the requirement to complete the specified courses have been recorded as being able to provide tax (financial) advice services on the Financial Advisers Register unless ASIC has been notified otherwise by the relevant provider’s AFS licensee.
Importantly, for all relevant providers, AFS licensees must notify ASIC whether the relevant providers they authorise can provide tax (financial) advice services. If a relevant provider's record is not updated, the Financial Advisers Register will not display whether the adviser can provide tax (financial) advice services.
10. I provide, or intend to provide, tax (financial) advice services. How does my AFS licensee include this information on the Financial Advisers Register?
Specifying whether you can provide tax (financial) advice services
When AFS licensees appoint a relevant provider for the first time using the 'Appoint' function on ASIC Connect, or update information about a relevant provider using the 'Maintain' function on ASIC Connect, they will be asked whether the relevant provider can provide tax (financial) advice services.
Your AFS licensee should answer 'yes' to this question if you provide, or intend to provide, tax (financial) advice services, provided that you meet the requirements and are permitted by your AFS licensee to do so.
Specifying the capacity in which you are eligible to provide tax (financial) advice services
Your AFS licensee is required to specify the capacity in which you are eligible to provide tax (financial) advice services.
For relevant providers, including provisional relevant providers, who are permanently exempt from having to complete the specified courses (see Question 5), information about the capacity in which they are eligible to provide tax (financial) advice services has been pre-filled on ASIC Connect based on information provided to ASIC by the Tax Practitioners Board.
For all other relevant providers, the AFS licensee will need to specify the capacity in which the relevant provider is eligible to provide tax (financial) advice services. This can be in any of the following capacities:
The relevant provider is a registered tax agent.
The relevant provider has completed the specified courses.
The relevant provider was both an existing provider and a relevant provider immediately before 1 January 2022 and has passed the financial adviser exam.
Note: Relevant providers in this category must have completed the specified commercial law and taxation law courses by 1 January 2026 to continue to be eligible to provide tax (financial) advice services.
Please contact ASIC at registration.enquiries@asic.gov.au if you or your AFS licensee believe that pre-filled information on the Financial Advisers Register about tax (financial) advice services is incorrect.
For more information, see our guidance on how to notify ASIC of a relevant providers ability to provide tax (financial) advice services using the 'Appoint' or 'Maintain' functions.
Default settings
For relevant providers who are not taken to be qualified tax relevant providers under the Better Advice Act, unless your AFS licensee notifies ASIC about your ability to provide tax (financial) advice services using the 'Maintain' function on ASIC Connect, your ability to provide tax (financial) advice services will not be recorded on the Financial Advisers Register.
It is your AFS licensee’s responsibility to ensure that information on the Financial Advisers Register is correct.
Problems submitting a 'Maintain' notification
If the transaction will not proceed when submitting a 'Maintain' notification on ASIC Connect to update the capacity in which the relevant provider is able to provide tax (financial) advice services, the updated information may already be held with ASIC.
If the problem does not resolve, please contact ASIC.
Please note that this information sheet is a summary giving you basic information about a particular topic. It does not cover the whole of the relevant law regarding that topic, and it is not a substitute for professional advice. We encourage you to seek your own professional advice to find out how the applicable laws apply to you, as it is your responsibility to determine your obligations.
You should also note that because this information sheet avoids legal language wherever possible, it might include some generalisations about the application of the law. Some provisions of the law referred to have exceptions or important qualifications. In most cases, your particular circumstances must be taken into account when determining how the law applies to you.
Information sheets provide concise guidance on a specific process or compliance issue or an overview of detailed guidance.
This information sheet was updated in January 2024.
