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Certificates in support of Client Loan Applications

The NTAA has recently obtained a legal opinion from Riordans Lawyers regarding the dangers faced by members signing certificates in support of client loan applications.

Editor: These certificates require the accountant to certify, with absolute certainty, the client's assets, income and even their ability to repay a loan! Get real!

Members are advised not to sign any certificate requested by a lender regarding a client’s loan. Members who do sign such a certificate risk exposing themselves to a potentially substantial liability (especially if the client defaults on the loan, and the lender comes looking for someone to blame).

It has also come to our attention that some bodies are asking accountants to certify that their client is a 'sophisticated investor' for the purposes of the Corporations Act. Even though that Act specifically allows for these certificates, at this stage we have the same concerns about these certificates, and advise members not to sign them if possible.

In the meantime, we will take this issue to the lenders and the Government, to see if we can ensure that accountants signing such certificates are not exposed to any liability.

For more information or to obtain a copy of the legal opinion please e-mail us at ntaainfo@ntaa.com.au.

Welcome to our new website!

As quite a few of you have seen, we now have a new NTAA website at www.ntaa.com.au.

We are excited to announce that this new website now incorporates a "members-only area".

In particular, members have asked if Voice could be available on the website as a download, and it is now available in the members’ area in PDF format.

Also, subscribers to Practice Update and Tax on the Couch will be able download the relevant material for the current month and the previous month at any time they log in.

There are also discussion forums for our members to communicate with each other, as well as many other new facilities.

To access the members’ area, you can either complete the "First Time Access" form and an email will be sent to you with passwords, or, if you know your member number and your "registered" email address (the email address that we have for you on file), then you can complete the "Password Look-Up" form and a password will be sent straight to you.

There are also two passwords required to access the members’ area. The first password is your "Members’ Area Login Password" which will give you access to all of the regular features of the members’ area, allowing you to, for example, see when your membership runs out, or how many hotline calls you have left, and giving you the ability to log a hotline call, book seminars and buy products at member prices.

The second password is your "Web Admin Password". This is an extra security measure so that you can change the details of your membership, such as your address, telephone/fax number etc. You will also need your "Web Admin Password" to change either of these passwords: simply go to "NTAA Member Profile" and enter your "Web Admin Password to update your profile".

We hope that you enjoy your new website. As always, all suggestions are gratefully appreciated.

Retraction of comments

In the September edition of Voice, the NTAA published an article entitled, ‘Tax Profession in Crisis?’

The basis of the article concerned some comments attributed to Mr Vos (Inspector-General of Taxation) at the JPCAA hearing into the Australian tax system.

In this article, the NTAA reported that Mr Vos had made observations regarding the enormous workload of tax agents, difficulties the profession has with keeping up to date and concerns about people leaving the tax profession.

The NTAA acknowledges that these comments attributed to Mr Vos did not represent the entire import of his comments to the JPCAA hearing as Mr Vos had tempered his comments with a number of qualifying statements in support of the tax agent industry, and thus were taken out of context.

This article was written on the basis of a news report in The Financial Review. The NTAA should have confirmed the context of the comments before it published the Voice article.

The National Tax & Accountants’ Association Limited has offered a sincere and unreserved apology to Mr Vos for any discomfort or embarrassment the article may have caused him.

The NTAA respects the efforts of Mr Vos in his role as the Inspector General of Taxation.

In particular, the NTAA acknowledges the valuable work done in the review of various aspects of Australia’s tax system by the Inspector General of Taxation and his team.

In the past, the NTAA has made submissions to the various reviews of the Inspector General of Taxation and will continue to work with his office in the future.

Editor: In fact, in September's Tax on the Couch we complimented the Inspector-General for his work other on behalf of tax agents. Ah, it's tough being us . . .

Amendments to the Tax Schools Div.7A Calculator

Members who attended the NTAA’s 2006 Day 2 Tax Schools seminars received a free copy of the NTAA’s Division 7A Calculator.

A number of members have requested changes to the software whereby calculations could be made for the 2007 year.

With the release of the interest rate for the 2007 year for Division 7A purposes, this information has been incorporated into the software package.