TPB recognises CFP® Certification Program as approved course in Australian Tax Law


The Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) has secured recognition for the CFP® Certification Program as an approved course in Australian Tax Law by the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB).

CFP® professionals who have completed units CFP 1-5 after 1 January 2016, will be deemed to have completed the Australian Tax Law subject, and will only need to complete an additional course in Commercial Law to re-register with TPB.

The FPA was recognised as a tax agent association by the TPB in 2012, meaning that FPA members who are tax (financial) advisers with six years in the past eight years of experience, can re-register with the TPB without needing to do additional study. Today’s announcement means that CFP® professionals who do not meet the experience requirements will now not have to complete additional study in Australian Tax Law.

Dante De Gori CFP®, CEO of the FPA, said that the recognition from the TPB is another significant win for the FPA and its members.

“At the FPA we believe that high quality education is an important part of raising financial planning standards and building consumer confidence in our profession. For this reason, we have worked with the TPB to get the FPA recognised as an approved course provider, and the CFP® Certification Program as an approved course in Australian Tax Law.

“For CFP® professionals who do not meet the experience requirements, this will mean that they are only required to complete the Commercial Law course to re-register with the TPB and continue to provide tax (financial) advice. We are delighted to have secured this for our members.

Dante also re-confirmed that FPA ‘voting’ members who do meet the experience requirements (six years full time experience in the last eight years), are eligible to re-register without needing to complete any further studies.

“For FPA members who have not yet renewed their TPB registration, we encourage you to check the TPB website for when your registration expires, as this may be as soon as 31 July 2017.”