As a tax (financial) adviser you will be required to meet ongoing education requirements.
They are grouped into two areas:
- Registration education requirements
- Continuing Professional Education (CPE)
The registration education requirements have not been released as at the date of this blog. We note that during the notification period, tax (financial) advisers are not required meet the registration education requirements in any event.
In its exposure draft on CPE requirements, the TPB states that registered tax (financial) advisers should complete a minimum of 60 hours of CPE over 3 years, with a minimum of 5 hours per year.
If you register as a "conditional adviser", that is, you have limitations on what subject areas of tax (financial) advice you provide, the minimum CPE requirement drops to 45 hours over 3 years, with a minimum of 5 hours per year.
| Registration type: | Hours every 3 years | Minimum hours per year |
| Tax (financial) advisers | 60 | 6 |
| Conditional advisers | 45 | 5 |
Anything the TPB considers "relevant" to the provision of the tax (financial) advice service provided can be considered CPE.
For example:
- training on using software to assist in the provision of tax (financial) services; or
- attending a 2 hour seminar on a new financial product will count towards CPE (2 hours will count, even if only 15 minutes was spent on the taxation implications),
can count towards CPE hours according to the TPB Exposure Draft. Advisers will need to integrate tax advice CPE into their existing financial advice CPE programs. It is likely that there will be considerable overlap between the two requirements.
The formal CPE requirements only apply to individuals registered as tax (financial) advisers. They begin when you become registered and you will need to show that you have met the requirements whenever your registration is renewed.
It is not yet clear what CPE requirements are applicable to employees not registered with the TPB who provide taxation advice in companies where the company has other employees who are registered with the TPB (pursuant to the "sufficient numbers" test). It is likely that it will be up to the company to determine what training requirements it imposes on unregistered staff who provide tax advice.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
