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.

For more information about the meaning of 'tax (financial) advice services', including examples, see the Tax Practitioners Board Information Sheet TPB(I) 20/2014 What is a tax (financial) advice service?

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).

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.
• You are primarily regulated by ASIC.

For further assistance in determining whether a relevant provider can provide tax (financial) advice services, see Flowchart: Can I provide tax (financial) advice services to retail clients? 

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.

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

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.

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.

For further information, see Flowchart: Can I provide tax (financial) advice services to retail clients?

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.

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.

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 some relevant providers, including some provisional relevant providers, 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 or a previous AFS licensee.

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 is an existing provider.

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.

For more help in understanding this requirement, see Flowchart: Can I provide tax (financial) advice services to retail clients?.

Pre-filled information

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 do not have pre-filled information on ASIC Connect in relation to whether you are eligible to provide tax (financial) advice services, 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 up to date and 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.