1. 30-10(7) - You must ensure that a tax agent service that you provide, or that is provided on your behalf, is provided competently
2. 30-10(9) - You must take reasonable care in ascertaining a client's state of affairs, to the extent that ascertaining the state of those affairs is relevant to a statement you are making or a thing you are doing on behalf of the client
3. 30-10(10) - You must take reasonable care to ensure that taxation laws are applied correctly to the circumstances in relation to which you are providing advice to a client

BCC Agenda item 3/15022024 – Anthony Cullen (order)
On 15 February 2024, after completing an investigation, the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) decided to impose an order on Anthony Cullen. The TPB found that Anthony Cullen had engaged in conduct which had breached the Code of Professional Conduct (the Code) in the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA).
The TPB found that Anthony Cullen breached:
1. subsection 30-10(7) of the Code by failing to ensure that a tax agent service that he provided, or that was provided on his behalf as a supervising agent of MTA – More Than Accountants Pty Ltd, a registered tax agent, was provided competently by failing to take reasonable care in the preparation and lodgement of income tax returns (ITRs) for clients that were subject to Australian Taxation Office (ATO) compliance activities, and were found to have included overclaimed, or incorrect, deduction claims that:
a. did not have sufficient nexus to assessable income; and/or
b. could not be adequately substantiated; and
c. resulted in tax shortfalls, and in some cases shortfall penalties, payable by the clients:
2. subsection 30-10(9) of the Code in his capacity as a director and supervising tax agent for MTA – More Than Accountants Pty Ltd, a registered tax agent, by not taking reasonable care in ascertaining the state of affairs of clients, to the extent that ascertaining the state of those affairs was relevant to statements it made in the tax returns of individual clients. Instead, MTA – More Than Accountants Pty Ltd was careless and reckless by contravening or disregarding taxation laws when it prepared ITRs on behalf of individual taxpayers, subsequently resulting in individuals having their ITRs adjusted and in certain cases shortfall penalties imposed after audit by the ATO.
3. subsection 30-10(10) of the Code in his capacity as a director and supervising tax agent for MTA – More Than Accountants Pty Ltd, a registered tax agent, by not taking reasonable care to ensure that the taxation laws were applied correctly to the circumstances in which it provided advice to individual clients. Instead, MTA – More Than Accountants Pty Ltd was careless and reckless by contravening or disregarding taxation laws when it prepared ITRs on behalf of individual taxpayers, subsequently resulting in individuals having their ITRs adjusted and in certain cases shortfall penalties imposed after audit by the ATO.
Given the above, in accordance with subparagraph 60-125(2)(b)(i) of the TASA, the TPB determined to impose on Anthony Cullen an order under paragraph 30-15(2)(b) and section 30-20 of the TASA requiring him to complete and pass a course in relation to the TASA.