The Tax Practitioners' Code

The Code of Professional Conduct is the minimum professional standard every registered tax agent and BAS agent must meet.

It is law. It is also broader than a list of technical rules. It affects how we accept clients, ask questions, keep files, use contractors, deal with mistakes and run the practice itself.

For sole practitioners and practices with 100 or fewer employees, eight additional Code duties applied from 1 July 2025. Most practitioners were already doing many of the right things. The important change is that those practices now need a more deliberate and documented way of showing how they meet the Code.

This guide is written for the practitioner who wants to know:

• What does the rule actually require?
• What does the TPB say about it?
• What would a sensible process look like in a small practice?
• What should I keep on the file?
• Where do practitioners commonly get caught?

The Code in everyday language

A registered practitioner must be honest, act lawfully for the client, protect information, know the limits of their competence, take reasonable care, keep records and run a practice that can be trusted.

That sounds simple. The difficult part is applying those ideas when:

• a client gives incomplete records at the last minute
• two family members want different outcomes
• an old return turns out to be wrong
• a contractor has prepared work you have not properly reviewed
• a client refuses to correct an error
• you are the only person in the practice and become unavailable.

The course focuses on those real decisions.

Who this guide is for

• sole-practitioner tax agents and BAS agents
• small accounting and bookkeeping practices
• employees and contractors working under a registered practitioner
• new practitioners setting up their first quality system
• experienced practitioners updating engagement letters, files and procedures.

How to use it

New practitioners should work through the chapters in order. Experienced practitioners may prefer to start with:

• The Code at a glance
• Sole-practitioner implementation
• Master compliance checklist
• Starter quality management manual.

Each chapter identifies the legal duty, explains the practical meaning and links to the official source. Some chapters include a short decision exercise. Others use a detailed scenario, because not every Code issue can be reduced to a checklist.

A note about good practice

This guide sometimes recommends controls that are not stated word-for-word in the legislation—for example, a standard file-completion checklist or an annual review of sample files. Those controls are included because they are practical ways to meet and demonstrate the legal duties. They are labelled as recommended practice, not presented as additional law.

Begin with Chapter 1 →

Important: General educational information only. Check the current legislation and TPB guidance before relying on this material in a particular matter.