Former tax accountant Nicholas Guy Birdseye fined for failing to allow ATO to audit his accounts

He’d lost his credentials as a tax accountant – now this Adelaide man has been fined in court for breaching taxation law.

A former tax agent stripped of his credentials had been fined after failing to provide documents to the Australian Taxation Office.

On Wednesday, Nicholas Guy Birdseye appeared before Magistrate Simon Smart in the Adelaide Magistrates Court as he handed down his sentencing remarks.

Mr Smart said Birdseye failed to provide the ATO with all relevant documents needed to complete a lawful audit of his accounts to confirm the amount of tax he should have been paying – even after receiving two warning notices.

“The defendant of course, as a former tax agent, would have been well cognisant of his obligations pursuant to the notice and the importance of compliance,” Mr Smart said.

Nicholas Guy Birdseye has been fined for refusing to allow the ATO to audit him.

Birdseye was required to provide documents including invoices and accounting records relating to funds received from nine different sources, a schedule of assets, information about his bank accounts and financial obligation.

Mr Smart’s remarks detailed that Birdseye had been deregistered as a tax agent in 2020, which was upheld a year later after the Administration Appeals Tribunal affirmed the decision made by the Taxation Practitioner’s Board.

“The defendant was not a fit and proper person to retain a tax agent registration on account of his conduct and that of a proprietary limited company of which he was the public and sole director in relation to obligations under the Tax Agents Services Act 2009,” the decision said.

Birdseye pleaded guilty to one count of failing to provide documents to the Commissioner of Taxation.

In Mr Smart’s written remarks, it was revealed Birdseye previously served a community service order in April 1995 for ten counts of failing to pay payroll tax as an employer.

The document revealed Birdseye submitted to the court his GP’s claim he was suffering from post-traumatic stress and depression following lengthy court action that began in 2020.

He submitted the stress had “adversely affected his ability to handle his business dealings” and was “dealt with wrongly”, which gave rise to his failure to comply with the ATO’s notices.

Mr Smart rejected that submission, but said while there was much for Birdseye to contend with and “much of it was stressful” he found Birdseye had “ample” time to comply with the second notice – the subject of the charge.

Mr Smart recorded a conviction and fined Birdseye $1000, reduced from $1500 by his plea of guilty.