Cross and Tax Practitioners Board (Taxation)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) heard applications for stays of decisions made by the Tax Practitioners Board. The dispute concerned the Board's decisions not to renew the registration of the First Applicant as an individual tax agent and the Second Applicant as a partnership tax agent. The Board's decisions were based on findings that the First Applicant was not a fit and proper person due to alleged breaches of the Code of Professional Conduct, specifically related to lodging unaudited self-managed super fund annual returns.

The legal issues before the Tribunal were whether to grant a stay of the Board's decisions pending the review of those decisions. This required the Tribunal to consider the provisions of section 41 of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (Cth), which outlines the Tribunal's power to make orders affecting the operation or implementation of a decision under review. The Tribunal was required to determine if granting a stay was desirable after taking into account the interests of any persons affected by the review.

The Tribunal applied the principles established in *Scott v Australian Securities and Investments Commission* and restated in *Menzies Institute of Technology v Australian Skills Quality Authority*. These principles require consideration of factors such as the prospects of success of the review application, the consequences for the applicant if a stay is refused, the public interest, the consequences for the respondent in carrying out its functions, and whether the review application would be rendered nugatory without a stay. While the applicants argued that it was the ordinary practice of the Tribunal to grant a stay in reviews of tax agent registration cancellations, the Tribunal noted that stays had not been granted in previous similar cases.

The Tribunal refused the applicants' requests for stays of the operation or implementation of the Board's decisions.