Tax Practitioners Board v Hinckfuss

In the matter of Tax Practitioners Board v Hinckfuss, the respondent, a former tax agent, faced penalties for multiple alleged contraventions of the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (Cth). The dispute centred on whether Mr Hinckfuss had improperly provided tax agent services without being registered, and the subsequent penalties to be imposed. The Federal Court was tasked with deciding the appropriate declarations, injunctive relief, and pecuniary penalties in relation to the alleged misconduct.

The court was required to determine whether the Tax Practitioners Board's proposed declarations and injunctive relief were appropriate. The Board sought declarations recognising Mr Hinckfuss's contraventions and injunctive relief requiring him to advise any person requesting tax services that he was not a registered tax agent. Mr Hinckfuss did not oppose the injunctive relief, provided its terms were clear and limited. The court considered the proposed relief to be limited and clear, with reasonable prospects of detecting any breach during the tax return process, and granted the relief sought.

The court also needed to decide the appropriate pecuniary penalty for the contraventions. The prescribed penalties were 250 penalty units for each contravention of s 50-5 and 50 penalty units for each contravention of s 50-10. The Board argued for a penalty towards the upper end of a range between $55,000 and $80,000, while Mr Hinckfuss proposed a range between $40,000 and $50,000. The court would need to consider the relevant factors in determining the appropriate penalty.

The court granted the declarations and injunctive relief sought by the Board, with some modifications to the declarations to better identify specific actions and avoid unnecessary disclosure of client names. The court determined that the appropriate penalty was within the range proposed by the Board, towards the upper end, and ordered Mr Hinckfuss to pay a penalty of $70,000.