The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) has upheld the Tax Practitioners Board’s (TPB) decision to terminate Feride Cerrah’s registration after the TPB investigation found she had both failed to act with honesty and integrity, and comply with taxation laws in the conduct of her personal affairs, including by failing to advise the Commissioner of Taxation that she was required to lodge income tax returns (ITRs) for multiple years, and misrepresenting her assessable income in those years.
Ms Cerrah was also found to have misled the TPB by making a number of false declarations, including declaring that she had no outstanding personal tax obligations, in an attempt to maintain her tax agent registration with the national regulator.
At the appeal proceedings, Ms Cerrah told the AAT she had not deliberately lied to the TPB. She argued that the false declarations she made were the result of “carelessness” and “inadvertence” and not “wilful deceit”, claims which the AAT rejected.
“Acting with honesty and integrity is not just a regulatory requirement, it’s a pillar of the tax practitioner profession. It’s clear the public cannot trust Ms Cerrah to act accordingly when conducting her tax practitioner duties,” said chair of the TPB, Mr Ian Klug AM.
Ms Cerrah also misled the TPB about meeting the continuing professional education (CPE) requirements. Audits of her CPE records showed that over 200 of the hours she logged were provided by a person who was not qualified to provide CPE training. Although she was unaware the individual was not qualified, the AAT noted it was her responsibility to verify that they were appropriately qualified to provide CPE before declaring to the TPB that the CPE requirements had been met.
“Ms Cerrah’s pattern of dishonest behaviour and misrepresentations did not go undetected. The TPB will always act swiftly and firmly to protect the integrity of the tax system, the reputation of the tax practitioner profession and the broader community from unscrupulous agents,” Mr Klug said.
