Sarah Abood

The Financial Advice Association of Australia (FAAA), in consultation with Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ), CPA Australia, and the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA), has released a guide for the financial planning and accounting communities containing practical guidance about claiming a tax deduction for financial advice fees. This follows the release of the ATO’s Tax Determination TD 2024/7 in September 2024.

FAAA CEO Sarah Abood says the FAAA is particularly pleased to provide financial advisers and accountants with a practical guide that has been ratified by the accounting associations.

“The implications of the updated ATO guidance are important for both financial advisers and accountants. We have worked together with the accounting associations so that the guidance is practical and consistent for both.

“The publication of this guide follows more than six years of advocacy from the FAAA to encourage the ATO to update its guidance. The ability for taxpayers to legitimately claim a portion of the initial advice fee for financial advice clients is new and is live now.  The guide also provides clarity regarding the claiming of ongoing fees.

“Advisers can now support their clients to claim a legitimate tax deduction for financial advice fees with confidence.”

The guide includes the legislative background and definitions of tax (financial) advice and taxation law. It outlines three potential methodologies for apportioning fees and provides examples, Statement of Advice text and fee summary templates, for active use.

Tony Negline, superannuation and financial services leader at CA ANZ, commented: “We are proud to collaborate with the FAAA, CPA Australia and IPA on this combined industry guide to help both financial advisers and the accounting community to understand the practical implications of the tax deductibility of financial advice fees, which will ultimately benefit our clients.”

Richard Webb, superannuation lead at CPA Australia, added: “We look forward to further explaining the changes and working with our members and the financial advice community to collaborate and embed the use of this guide.”

Tony Greco, senior tax adviser at IPA, said: “We hope the guide is helpful for the financial services community, in conjunction with our members acting as the client’s tax adviser, to have real clarity of the approach to apportionment and deductibility more generally.”

Read the guide

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Tony Negline has been appointed technical editor, Kevin Conlon has been appointed to head the CPD program and Jacquie Hayes has been appointed to manage content.

Mr Negline is principal at Financial & Technical Solutions and is also head of superannuation at the Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand.

He has almost 30 years experience in financial services in a range of senior roles including national technical services manager at ING Funds and Technical Manager at AM Corporation and Aviva Australia.

He has written the weekly superannuation and financial services column in The Australian newspaper for almost 13 years. He is also the author of The Essential SMSF Guide 2016/17 published by Thomson Reuters and endorsed by Chartered Accountants, Australia & New Zealand.

Mr Conlon is managing partner at ACTIVE Knowledge and was most recently chief executive of the peak equity release body, SEQUAL.

He has over 30 years experience in financial services both as a practitioner and as an educator. His previous roles include chief executive of the Council of Mortgage Lenders Australia, head of education with the MFAA and national manager – training and development – with RESI Mortgage.

He is a long-standing contributor to the Financial Planning Academic Forum, FPAF and ASIC’s Financial Literacy Community of Practice.

Ms Hayes has over 20 years experience in financial journalism and media relations, most recently as a columnist for Fairfax Media. She was personal finance editor at The Australian newspaper and prior to this she was a personal finance writer with the Australian Financial Review. She also spent time as media relations manager at Social Ventures Australia.

“The appointment of these senior technical, content and professional development executives brings a high level of expertise to knowIT Group and its Desk Caddie online tool offering,” says Wayne Wilson, CEO of knowIT Group.

“Desk Caddie already provides practical support to more than 4000 advisers, to help develop financial planning strategies for clients. With the addition of the new executive team, knowIT Group is maintaining the experience, knowledge and ability needed to provide the high levels of strategic analysis Desk Caddie clients have come to expect.

“Tony’s ability to deliver sophisticated legislative and technical information, knowledge and research, combined with Jacquie’s expertise in financial writing and Kevin’s capabilities in developing CPD programs, are part of the ongoing strategy to redevelop the relevance and reach of Desk Caddie,” Mr Wilson said.

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