One national register. Tax agents and BAS agents are registered by the Tax Practitioners Board under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009, so the rules for a West Perth practice are the same as for one in Sydney. Division 50 of the Act covers providing or advertising tax agent services while unregistered, as well as representing yourself as registered when you aren't. The TPB Register shows each practitioner's registration number, type, status and any conditions, and it's the first place a cautious client will check.
Keeping clients informed. Section 45 of the Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024 requires registered practitioners to tell current and prospective clients that the TPB keeps a public register and how to search it, how to complain to the TPB, general information about their rights and obligations, and certain events from the past five years or conditions that limit their registration. It applied from 1 January 2025 for larger practices and from 1 July 2025 for those with 100 or fewer employees. The TPB's example of meeting the obligation pairs publishing the information on a public website you use to promote your services with your engagement letters and its client factsheet. The content is yours to settle with the TPB's guidance; our part is making the page easy to find.
Memberships are separate. CPA Australia, Chartered Accountants ANZ and the Institute of Public Accountants are professional bodies, not registration authorities, and each has its own rules. CPA Australia requires members offering public accounting services in Australia to hold a Public Practice Certificate or a Limited Public Practice Certificate, and CA ANZ requires resident members who are principals in a public practice to hold a Certificate of Public Practice. Showing both your TPB registration and your membership answers two different questions a client may have.
Work that's particular to WA. Payroll tax is a state tax, administered in WA by the Department of Treasury and Finance. The rate is 5.5% of WA taxable wages, and a tax-free threshold phases out as an employer's or group's Australian taxable wages rise from one million to 7.5 million dollars a year. Mining is another: the ATO publishes a separate guide to income, allowances and work-related deductions for mining site employees. If you help growing employers with payroll tax or look after a lot of mine-site workers, a section or page on it speaks directly to the people searching for that help.
Where you are, and where we are. If you see clients in person, name the office and the suburbs you draw from, whether that's the CBD and West Perth, Joondalup, Fremantle, Midland or Rockingham, and add parking or public transport notes. We're an Adelaide team and build for Perth practices by phone and email; Adelaide is 1.5 hours ahead of Perth, or 2.5 during South Australian daylight saving. We've built an accounting firm's website, and our current clients are in SA, NSW, VIC and QLD.