On 29 July 2025, the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) applied to the Federal Court of Australia (Court) seeking civil penalties and a permanent injunction to stop Yan Qun Ke (Ms Ke) from providing tax agent services whilst not a registered tax agent within the meaning of the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA).

Alleged conduct

Ms Ke was previously a registered tax agent until 20 November 2017. Since that time, Ms Ke has not been registered as a tax agent in order to lawfully provide tax agent services to taxpayers for a fee under the TASA.

The TPB alleges that Ms Ke has acted unlawfully in contravention of subsection 50-5(1) of the TASA, on the basis that:

• Ms Ke provided tax agent services, namely the preparation and lodgement of income tax returns for the 2021 to 2024 income years, to multiple taxpayers;
• Ms Ke provided each of the above tax agent services in return for a fee, by requesting and receiving payments from the taxpayers for her services to a bank account to which Ms Ke is a signatory and authorised to operate; and
• When Ms Ke provided each of the above tax agent services for a fee, she was not a registered tax agent within the meaning of the TASA.

The TPB decided to commence court proceedings against Ms Ke because conduct by an unregistered person in providing tax agent services in return for a fee or other reward poses a risk to clients and to the public. This is because:

• A person who is unregistered, and has not applied for registration as a tax agent, has not demonstrated to the TPB that they meet the tax practitioner registration requirements in the TASA in order to lawfully provide tax agent services. These include the requirement to be a fit and proper person, the requirements relating to qualifications and experience and the requirement to maintain professional indemnity insurance to adequately compensate clients for any loss they incur as a result of tax agent services they receive from the unregistered person; and
• An unregistered person does not need to act in accordance with the obligations that apply to registered tax practitioners under the Code of Professional Conduct in the TASA. These include the obligations to act honestly and with integrity, to ensure that they provide tax agent services competently, and to take reasonable care in ascertaining the state of affairs of clients and to ensure that that they correctly apply the taxation laws to the circumstances of clients that are relevant to the services they provide.

The TPB Register will be updated to reflect any Court decisions.