Tax advice and financial planners

In July 2004 the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) issued draft determination TD2004/D22. This draft determination presented a view that tax advice given in a non-representational capacity, which was incidental to another service or advice, would not be in breach of S251L of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA36). On 18 May 2005 the ATO released TD2005-16 which confirmed the views expressed in draft determination TD2004/D22. The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of this determination, in particular in consideration of S251L(1)(b), which is stated below. The paper addresses the issue of the provision of tax advice, in respect of the tax legislation and not from the perspective of the Corporations Act 2001.