18 Mar 2021 Tax Practitioners Board

AAT affirms TPB termination decision following sustained misconduct over nine years

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) has affirmed the Tax Practitioners Board’s (TPB) decision to terminate the registration of Perth-based tax agent Mr Ashley Cross on the grounds of misconduct and impose a two-year non-application period.

Following a referral from the ATO about SMSF Auditor Number misuse, the TPB concluded that Mr Cross and his partnership had failed to act honestly and with integrity and additionally failed to provide competent tax agent services.

Over a period of nine years, Cross lodged 125 SMSF annual returns falsely declaring that the SMSFs had been audited when in fact they had not been.

Read more here.