Highlights

  • Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand removed Russell Grech's membership for two years on 21 October 2026.
  • The Tax Practitioners Board found Grech lodged 19 business activity statements containing false information to obtain unentitled refunds.
  • Parliament has passed tougher tax adviser penalties, including a reapplication ban extended from five to 10 years.
  • Clients of unregistered preparers lose safe harbour protection, and the ATO stopped returns claiming $170 million in deductions.

"The relevant conduct was not an isolated administrative oversight," the disciplinary committee said. That sentence, aimed at Victorian accountant Russell Grech, sums up a 21 October decision by Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) to remove his membership for two years. The Tax Practitioners Board had found he lodged 19 business activity statements containing false information. With the 2 November lodgment deadline days away, it is a prompt to check who prepares your return.

What CA ANZ decided

CA ANZ's Professional Conduct Committee decided on 21 October 2026 to cancel Grech's membership for two years and ordered him to pay $11,048, the full costs of the proceeding. The practical effect is that he is not a CA ANZ member for that period. He had been a member since 2004 and registered with the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) in 2011.

In a July 2026 email, Grech said he did not wish to retain his membership, citing difficult personal circumstances. The committee called its sanction "serious but proportionate" and "designed to be protective rather than punitive", and said the findings "strike at the heart of the public's expectations" of members.

What the TPB found

The CA ANZ action followed the TPB's mid-2025 decision to cancel Grech's registration as a tax agent and bar him from reapplying for two years. The TPB found he lodged 19 BAS for the purpose of obtaining unentitled tax refunds, failed to pay his own tax debts when due, failed to respond adequately when the ATO asked whether a statement was false or misleading, and failed to provide documents backing the credits he claimed. These are regulatory findings, not criminal convictions, and no charges were reported.

How false BAS refunds unravel

A BAS reports GST collected on sales and GST credits claimed on purchases, and the ATO pays a refund when credits exceed GST owed. Credits generally need valid tax invoices, and the ATO can disallow them if proof is not produced.

Take a hypothetical business reporting $10,000 of GST on sales and claiming $25,000 in credits for a $15,000 refund. If the purchases cannot be substantiated, it repays the $15,000. A reckless false statement carries a 50% base shortfall penalty of $7,500, and intentional disregard 75%, or $11,250. Totals would be $22,500 or $26,250, before GIC.

Tougher penalties on the way

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Strengthening Accountability for Tax Adviser Misconduct and Other Measures) Bill 2026 has passed both Houses, with royal assent and start date yet to be confirmed. It creates five new criminal offences for unregistered preparers, with maximum penalties of 40 months' jail and/or 200 penalty units. Civil penalties for individuals rise from 250 to 2,500 penalty units. Greens Senator Barbara Pocock called the changes "modest".

Checking your tax agent

The ATO said in October it had stopped returns linked to suspected unregistered preparers that claimed $170 million in deductions. Their clients lose safe harbour, under which a taxpayer who gives a registered agent all relevant information can generally avoid penalties for the agent's false statements, unless the agent acted recklessly or with intentional disregard. Underpaid tax must still be paid.

ATO Assistant Commissioner Anita Challen urged scepticism toward "anyone making promises that sound too good to be true". The TPB keeps a public register of registered tax and BAS agents that anyone can search.

Dates to watch

Monday 2 November 2026 is the deadline for people lodging their own 2025–26 return. First-time users of a registered agent generally need to be on the client list by 31 October to get later lodgment dates. Grech could seek TPB registration again from mid-2027, and his CA ANZ exclusion would end in October 2028.