CH180180 - Dishonest tax agents: who is a tax agent
A tax agent is defined in the legislation as an individual who, in the course of business, assists other persons (바카라 사이트˜clients바카라 사이트™) with their tax affairs. A firm or other organisation, whether incorporated or not, cannot be a tax agent for the purposes of this regime. A tax agent may, however, work for an organisation.
The assistance that the tax agent provides must be given in the course of business. This means that free advice, lectures and work undertaken voluntarily and without payment (바카라 사이트˜pro bono바카라 사이트™ work) by tax agents are not caught.
Assistance with a client바카라 사이트™s tax affairs includes
- advising a client in relation to tax
- acting or purporting to act as agent on behalf of a client in relation to tax
- assisting with any document that we are likely to rely on to determine a person바카라 사이트™s tax position, and
- assistance that is given for non-tax purposes, if it is given with the knowledge that it will be, or is likely to be, used by a client in connection with the client바카라 사이트™s tax affairs.
An individual can be a tax agent even if they, or the organisation for which they work, are appointed
- indirectly, or
- at the request of someone other than the client.
For example, a tax agent may engage another firm to provide specialist advice on a particular topic.
Sometimes this guidance refers to 바카라 사이트˜tax agent바카라 사이트™ and other times it simply refers to 바카라 사이트˜person바카라 사이트™ or 바카라 사이트˜individual바카라 사이트™. Different terms are used because the regime applies to tax agents, and former tax agents who, at the time of the misconduct, acted as a tax agent. Information requests and sanctions can also apply to third party document-holders, see CH183320, who may have never been a tax agent and may not be an individual.