In Brief

1. The Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024 — fully in force as of 1 July 2025 — requires registered tax practitioners to report "material" client non-compliance to the ATO or TPB where correction is refused and substantial harm to the tax system may result.
2. Client confidentiality is not abolished; it is subordinated to a legal disclosure duty under Section 30-10(6) of the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 when Section 15 of the Determination is triggered.
3. These obligations apply to the conduct of Australian-registered tax practitioners, not to the structures they advise on; moving assets offshore does not remove a practitioner's TASA obligations when advising Australian-connected clients. Before July 2025, asking your accountant for advice on a complex or aggressive tax position carried professional risk for the adviser but rarely resulted in automatic reporting to the Australian Taxation Office.

That position has changed. The Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024 (the "Code Determination"), which reached full application for all registered practitioners on 1 July 2025, introduces a mandatory reporting obligation that fundamentally alters the dynamic between advisers and their clients on contested tax positions. The change is real and material, but its scope is frequently overstated. Understanding precisely what the Determination requires — and what it does not — is more useful to affected taxpayers than treating every adviser conversation as a potential audit referral. What Section 15 of the Code Determination actually requires Section 15 creates a mandatory disclosure obligation in a specific, limited set of circumstances. Where a registered tax practitioner identifies that a statement made to the Commissioner or to the Tax Practitioners Board is false, misleading, or incorrect in a material particular, the practitioner must first advise the client to correct it. If the client refuses, and the practitioner has reasonable grounds to believe that failing to correct the statement may cause substantial harm to the integrity of the tax system or to other persons, the practitioner must notify the relevant authority directly. The threshold of "substantial harm" is the operative standard. The Code Determination was amended before its final commencement to raise this bar from an earlier, broader formulation. Routine errors, differences of interpretation, and positions that are genuinely arguable under the law do not trigger Section 15. Practitioners who fail to comply with Section 15 where it applies risk suspension or cancellation of their registration by the Tax Practitioners Board. The confidentiality question is governed by Section 30-10(6) of the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA), which preserves a general duty of confidentiality but explicitly subordinates it to any legal duty of disclosure imposed by law. Section 15 creates that legal duty; it therefore overrides client confidentiality when its conditions are met. This is not a new concept in professional regulation — it mirrors the position under the

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Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. Readers should seek professional advice tailored to their specific circumstances. Information reflects the position as of the publication date and may be subject to change. This article addresses UAE, Australian, UK, and Canadian law where specified; different rules apply in other jurisdictions. © 2026 Alldren. All rights reserved. This article addresses Australian tax practitioner obligations under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 and the Code Determination. Readers should seek independent Australian legal and tax advice for their specific circumstances.