Item 17 makes it very easy for legislators to quickly add new rules to the Professional Code for Tax Agents through a Ministerial Determination.
Item 17 Ministerial Determination
Think of Item 17 as a back door. In itself, Item 17 tells you nothing. It just allows a Ministerial Determination to push more rules into the Code via this door.
And this has already happened once. A Ministerial Determination dated 2 July 2024 has come through Item 17 and added eight additional obligations to the Code.
These additional obligations are what Andrew Henshaw of Velocity Legal in Melbourne and host of the ‘Explain That’ podcast will discuss with you in this episode.
Here is what we learned, but please listen as Andrew explains all this much better than we ever could.
To listen while you drive, walk or work, access the episode through a free podcast app on your mobile phone.
Item 17 Ministerial Determination
In the last episode, ep 433, Andrew Henshaw discussed Items 15 and 16 that have been added to the Code of Professional Conduct in the TASA – the Tax Agent Services Act 2009.
Andrew then mentioned Item 17, which opens the door to ministerial determination. So this is where we will pick up again in this episode.
New Code obligations
Item 17 basically just says, ‘The Minister may determine new Code obligations through a legislative instrument.” This legislative instrument will be a ministerial determination.
But not everything and anything can come through Item 17. It has to relate to our professional or ethical conduct as a registered tax or BAS agent. The obligations may elaborate or supplement any aspect of the Code.
Ministerial Determination 2 July 2024
The official name for the ministerial determination registered on 2 July 2024 is “A new Legislative Instrument (LI), Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024”. It introduced eight additional Code obligations under Code item 17.
Commencement Date
The new obligations commence on:
1 July 2025 for tax practitioners with 100 or fewer employees as of 31 July 2024, including new tax practitioners that register between 1 August 2024 and 30 June 2025; and
1 January 2025 –for any other tax practitioners.
This is the first ministerial determination that came in through Item 17. It won’t be the last one.
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