A guide for business coaches in Melbourne, and the owners who hire them, published by Dotto
Business coach in Melbourne: where coaching ends and licensed advice begins
Some of what a client might ask a coach is work the law reserves for someone registered or licensed: tax work the client can reasonably be expected to rely on, done for a fee or other reward; advice about a financial product; help with a particular consumer loan or lease; and, in Victoria, legal work, whether paid or free. This site sets out each of those lines from the regulator that keeps it, with a fifth line from the consumer law on claims about results.
General information, not tax, financial or legal advice. Each guide names the official place to check.
The five lines, and who keeps each
Each row is one guide. The middle column is the point, in the regulator’s own terms, at which the work needs a registration or a licence, or, in the last row, at which a claim breaks the law.
| The line | What crosses it | Kept by |
|---|---|---|
| Tax advice | Working out or advising on a client’s tax obligations or entitlements in a way the client can reasonably be expected to rely on, for a fee or other reward. | The Tax Practitioners Board, under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 |
| Financial products | A recommendation or opinion intended, or reasonably regarded as intended, to influence a decision about a financial product. ASIC’s list of financial products includes shares, superannuation and insurance. | ASIC, through the Australian financial services (AFS) licence |
| Credit | Suggesting or assisting with a particular credit contract or consumer lease, where the credit is consumer credit, or credit to an individual wholly or predominantly for residential property investment, rather than credit for a business purpose. | ASIC, through the Australian credit licence |
| Legal work in Victoria | Legal advice about another person’s legal affairs, or drafting or advising on the terms of a contract: the VLSB+C gives both as examples of what could be considered unqualified legal practice when done by someone without a current practising certificate. | The Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner (VLSB+C) |
| Claims about results | A prediction about the future made without reasonable grounds, which the Australian Consumer Law treats as misleading. | The ACCC, under the Australian Consumer Law |
The first four lines are about who may do a kind of work. The fifth applies to anyone in trade or commerce, licensed or not: ASIC makes the same point for financial products, that a person doesn’t need a licence to break the rules against misleading conduct.
The shared test: advice about this client
Read side by side, three of the regulators give weight to the same moment in a conversation: the point where general knowledge is applied to one client’s own position. In each case it is one part of the line, not the whole of it.
- Tax Practitioners BoardOne factor in whether a client can reasonably rely on a service is whether knowledge of a taxation law has been applied to the client’s individual circumstances. General tax advice not tailored to a client’s circumstances is not a tax agent service.
- ASICAdvice may be treated as personal advice when it is presented so that a reasonable person might expect the adviser to have considered the client’s objectives, financial situation or needs. That decides whether advice is personal or general, not whether a licence is needed: as a general rule, a business giving general advice that is a financial service also needs an AFS licence, or must act as an authorised representative of a licensee, unless an exemption applies.
- VLSB+CUnqualified legal practice is a criminal offence in Victoria. The VLSB+C’s list of activities that could be considered unqualified legal practice, when done by someone without a current practising certificate, starts with legal advice, spoken or written, about another person’s legal affairs, and includes drafting a contract, or advising on its terms. Some Australian laws let people who aren’t lawyers, such as registered conveyancers and accountants, give limited legal services.
The point is shared, but no line stops there: ASIC’s licence reaches general advice as well as personal, and the VLSB+C’s list of what could be considered unqualified legal practice reaches documents as well as advice. Each guide shows where its regulator draws its line, with the examples it gives on either side.
If you are the owner hiring a coach
The registrations matter to the client as well as the coach. The regulators describe protections that go missing when the work is done by someone outside them.
- Tax. Under the ATO’s safe harbour provisions, a taxpayer who engages a registered tax practitioner is not liable for penalties in certain circumstances; the TPB says that protection is not available when the work is done by an unregistered preparer.
- Financial products. ASIC describes financial services laws as setting minimum requirements and giving investors protections if something goes wrong.
- Legal work. People who use an unqualified person or business for legal services are not covered by professional indemnity insurance or the VLSB+C’s compensation scheme if things go wrong.
Three of those registrations can be checked on a register the regulator keeps or points to. The TPB keeps a register of tax practitioners, ASIC’s professional registers search shows AFS licence details, and the VLSB+C keeps a Register of Lawyers that lists each practitioner’s practising certificate type.
A coach is also selling a service, and the consumer law asks the same of a coach’s promises as of any business’s: the ACCC says a business making a claim about the future must have reasonable grounds for it when the claim is made, and must be able to show them. The guide on claims about results turns that into questions an owner can ask before signing up.