An open letter to our members

Better together: Supporting the Tax Community during COVID-19

We at The Tax Institute hope you are remaining well at this unprecedented time and appreciate the enormous effort you are making to keep Australian businesses operating.

Australia has done a fantastic job in flattening the COVID-19 curve so far. However, challenging times are still ahead, and many restrictions are unlikely to be lifted this year. No doubt, there will also be further updates and changes to the legislation around stimulus payments and tax relief measures from the Federal and State Governments, just to keep us all on our toes.

We recognise and appreciate the significant strain that many of you are under. Our team is dedicated to increasing our impact, expanding our resources and transforming our delivery channels to offer you all the support and clarification that you need.

We have doubled down our efforts to be your biggest advocate

We have channeled our resources and energy to concentrate our advocacy efforts to influence positive outcomes for you and your clients.

We have consolidated our efforts with the joint professional bodies to offer a united approach to better support and collaborate with the Federal Government, Australian Taxation Office and the Tax Practitioners Board during these challenging times.

This approach ensures we have a collective voice in shaping the economic stimulus measures and policy, so these changes are fit for purpose in their application to your real-life tax scenarios. We have already seen several deferrals and additional concessions applied as a result of the direction provided by the National Tax Liaison Group (NTLG) with whom we are meeting regularly.

We will continue to have an active and driving role with the joint professional bodies as it is our belief that unity as a tax profession is absolutely critical right now, to action change for the better in this time of economic and regulatory uncertainty. As always, we encourage you as members to contribute to our policy agenda and to shape our advocacy efforts by reaching out to our tax leaders through existing channels including our Friday TaxVine.

We have also initiated a COVID-19 Rapid Response Group consisting of some of Australia’s leading tax and legal advisers, who are available to tackle and solve any pressing legal and regulatory questions our members raise. They have also been the driving force behind our COVID-19 Stimulus Package Webinar Series.

The events of recent weeks have reinforced to us the need to have the highest level of expertise and influence across the profession. To this end, we look forward to announcing very soon some significant and heavyweight appointments to increase the impact of our engagement, tax policy and advocacy efforts.

We have swiftly pivoted our engagement, events and education delivery

As an organisation known for our interactive events, we have had to rapidly transform our business to continue giving our members engagement opportunities and community access.

Our National Superannuation Series, Death & Taxes program, Young Professionals Series and our annual Barossa Convention will all continue online. We have also maintained our strong local connections with our virtual Morning Tax Clubs, discussion groups and committees, so you still have a friendly face to turn to during this time.

We have also transitioned our education programs to a fully online delivery model in a condensed period of time between study periods so that our learners and CTA students can continue to progress their education. We have implemented virtual classrooms and will deliver our upcoming examinations online and remotely.

We’ve supersized our member benefits

To support you through these challenging times, we have committed to provide even more critical insight and content as part of your existing membership. We trust you have found our COVID-19 Webinar Series helpful so far, with four sessions down, 4,000 attendees - and more to come. We have just launched Part One of a new webinar series aptly named ‘Taxing Times’.

We have also published the COVID-19 and Economic Stimulus Resource Hub to help you stay abreast of any new stimulus measures, economic changes and announcements affecting our profession.

Unlike other associations, our various online webinars and information sessions on the stimulus package announcements have been free for our members, and $80 per session for non-members. They are also uncapped, so you can attend as many as you would like in your membership year, which is an extremely practical way to gain valuable CPD points.

We appreciate there is an overwhelming amount of new information that is also constantly evolving. It is our aim to be your authoritative source of truth for tax matters right now. We will continue to provide the latest and most timely information through our existing publications including our Taxation in Australia Journal and our weekly TaxVine member-only newsletter.

Membership fees

As the annual renewal window opens, for those members who are under significant strain and have been severely impacted by COVID-19, we do have a number of financial hardship options to help you still maintain your membership. Please contact your local regional manager to discuss and find out more.

By uniting, supporting each other and working in collaboration with our members, we at The Tax Institute will continue to strive to help you overcome the regulatory, business and personal challenges ahead.

We want to offer our sincerest thanks to you, our members. Your continued support means we can continue to do our vital work.

Thanks again,

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