Making Decisions in a Legal Context Research Paper

Making Decisions in a Legal Context - Research Paper Example Answer: Not all of the employees of a registered BAS agent need be registered with the Board. However, any parties (including individuals or groups) contracted for BAS related work need to be registered with the Board to ensure compliance with relevant legal provisions. Typically, it is common for a BAS service to register some of its employees with the Board in order to meet a â€Å"minimum numbers† requirement and to demonstrate the competence of the BAS agent (TPB, 2012a). In order to manage the personal information of employees, Sophie Tiller will store information in personal records. A similar approach will be used for contracted BAS agents. Access to these records would be restricted except for Sophie Tiller or relevant authorities for auditing and compliance checks. Q2. Describe the process for managing the personal information, particularly the police checks and other personal information including Tax File Numbers, Bank Account details, personal and contact information. Answer: At the time of induction, both employees and contractors would be required to provide or sign a consent form for criminal history record check. For most general purposes, this form is the NAT 16358 that is available at the Australian Taxation Office website (ATO, 2012a). This form will then be attached to the particulars of the employee or contractor and sent to the local police authorities for verification. Once verified character certificates are received from the police, the employee or contractor would be cleared for work. In a similar manner, employees and contractors would be required to provide details pertaining to their bank accounts, personal taxation details etc. voluntarily. These details will be verified by correspondence with the relevant authorities, for example, bankers, tax authorities etc. Once replies regarding the clearances are received, these will be entered in personal record files. The records will be updated with the frequency of one year in order to ensure that they are current. Moreover, records will be kept in personal files for a period of five years before they are removed as being obsolete. Q3. Legislation guiding the business: Describe the legislation guiding this particular case study business – Sophie Tiller Bookkeeping Services. Answer: The BAS service was not required to be registered before March 2010, but new legislation has made it mandatory for BAS and tax practitioners to register themselves. The Tax Agent Services Act of 2009 (TASA) covers the area of BAS service or agent registration (ATO, 2012b). Previously, BAS agents or services did not have any defined prerequisites or other registration requirements. However, since the adoption of this new piece of legislation, BAS agents need to be furnished with minimum education requirements of either a Cert IV in Bookkeeping or a Cert IV in Accounting. Since Sophie Tiller is experienced but does not meet the minimum educational requirements, she must upgrade her educational qualifications in order to proceed with a new BAS business service. Moreover, new BAS agents are required to demonstrate a minimum of 1,400 hours of work experience while older BAS agents working under the umbrella of certified accounting and bookkeeping regulators such as ACCA are required to display around 1,000 hours of work experience. Sophie Tiller can gain an advantage since she has over 3 years of experience in the BAS service industry under this piece of legislation (ICB, 2012a). Q4. Consumer protection: How the business ensures that it does not engage in any conduct that is misleading or deceptive. Answer: Previously there were little restrictions on who could act as a BAS agent, but this has recently been changed under legislative changes. BAS agents must be registered