Key points
- From 1 February 2023, ASIC’s Financial Advisers Register (FAR), published on Moneysmart, will display whether a financial adviser can provide tax (financial) advice services.
- To provide tax (financial) advice services to retail clients, a financial adviser must meet certain new requirements. Financial advisers who meet these requirements are known as ‘qualified tax relevant providers’ (QTRPs).
- Certain financial advisers are taken to be QTRPs under transitional provisions. FAR will generally display that these financial advisers can provide tax (financial) advice services.
- Australian Financial Services (AFS) licensees who authorise financial advisers who are not taken to be QTRPs will need to update the FAR to record whether their financial advisers can provide tax (financial) advice services. If an adviser’s record is not updated by 1 February 2023, the FAR will not display whether the adviser can provide tax (financial) advice services.
From 1 February 2023, ASIC’s Financial Advisers Register (FAR), published on Moneysmart, will display whether a financial adviser can provide tax (financial) advice services to retail clients.
From 1 January 2022, Financial advisers who provide, or intend to provide, tax (financial) advice services to retail clients must meet certain new requirements. Primarily, the new requirements are the completion of specified courses in commercial law and taxation law – some exceptions apply. Additional continuing professional development requirements also apply. Financial advisers who meet the requirements are known as ‘qualified tax relevant providers’ (QTRPs). These requirements are set out in Corporations (Relevant Providers—Education and Training Standards) Determination 2021 (Relevant Providers Determination).
Generally, financial advisers who were registered with the Tax Practitioners Board as individual tax (financial) advisers at the relevant time are taken to be QTRPs on an indefinite basis. ASIC wrote to each of these advisers and their respective AFS licensees notifying them of their QTRP status. ASIC also recorded on the FAR that these financial advisers can provide tax (financial) advice services, unless their AFS licensee has advised ASIC that they are not authorised to provide tax (financial) advice services. This is the record that ASIC intends to display from 1 February 2023.
If this information isn’t already recorded on the FAR, Australian Financial Services (AFS) licensees should notify ASIC before 1 February 2023 whether their financial advisers can provide tax (financial) advice services. This can be done by updating a financial adviser’s details using the ‘maintain’ function on ASIC Connect. There is no cost to notify ASIC of these details for the first time.
Importantly, if ASIC is not notified whether a financial adviser can provide tax (financial) advice services by 1 February 2023, the FAR will not display whether the adviser can provide tax (financial) advice services. It is the responsibility of AFS licensees to ensure that the details recorded on the Financial Advisers Register about their financial advisers is correct.
The requirements with respect to QTRPs are separate to those which require financial advisers to be registered with ASIC by 1 July 2023.
For further information, see recently updated ASIC Information Sheet 268 FAQs: Relevant providers who provide tax (financial) advice services (INFO 268). Updated INFO 268 no longer includes content relating to financial adviser registration. This content will be included in the registration specific guidance that will be published by ASIC ahead of registration going live in the second quarter of 2023.
ASIC is Australia’s corporate, markets and financial services regulator.