An Admirable Safe Harbour? Safe Harbours from Administrative Penalty for Taxpayers When Engaging Tax Agents and the Effects on the Uniform Penalty System

The Tax Agent Services (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 2009 (Cth) creates safe harbours that protect taxpayers from administrative penalty for false or misleading statements and late lodgement. These will affect the vast majority of taxpayers because around 74 per cent of individual and 95 per cent of business taxpayers lodge income tax returns via a tax agent. This article provides an evaluation of these safe harbours in isolation and in light of the recent policy discourse of the Henry Review and taxation initiatives aimed at reducing the need for tax agents. While this article concludes that the safe harbours are mostly admirable, certain issues have been identified which require further consideration and action due to policy reasons