Jozef Imrich, name worthy of Kafka, has his finger on the pulse of any irony of interest and shares his findings to keep you in-the-know with the savviest trend setters and infomaniacs.
''I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.''
-Kurt Vonnegut
Former PwC chief Tom Seymour has been deregistered by tax authorities for failing to act on signs that secret government information was being shared by tax partners at the firm, in a landmark sanction over the firm’s tax leaks scandal.
The Tax Practitioners Board, which oversees Australia’s 80,000 tax agents, also found Seymour had allowed an unethical culture to develop within the firm’s tax division in a scathing finding published on Tuesday morning. His tax agent registration was cancelled, and he is banned from reapplying for four years.
The board found Seymour had “failed to act with integrity and failed to have in place adequate arrangements to manage conflicts of interest” relating to partner activities while he was head of the firm’s tax and legal division and its regional tax leader between 2012 and 2020.
Seymour, who was voted in as PwC CEO in March 2020 until the leaks scandal forced him to step down in May 2023, had led the firm’s tax division when it became embroiled in a years-long fight with the Australian Taxation Office over advice it felt was overly aggressive.
“As I have previously acknowledged, I accept leadership accountability and in doing so, stood down as CEO. Notwithstanding this, I disagree with the TPB finding that I breached the Code of Conduct and believe it is incorrect,” he said.
“Leadership accountability on behalf of an organisation does not correlate with an individual breach of the code.”
Seymour said that the finding relied on hindsight about “emails received over a four-year period” and that the firm’s legal and risk teams and other authorities did not raise any concerns with him at the time.
‘Unethical’ business culture
The board said that Seymour failed to manage conflicts of interest when partners consulted with the government on new tax laws. He “failed to take any action, or otherwise implement any procedures to ensure that the actual conflicts of interest which arose for individual partners ... were appropriately managed.”
He had also “failed to recognise, or otherwise permitted, a business culture to develop and operate within the Tax & Legal services division at PwC whilst he was the Managing Partner that included unethical and improper professional conduct by multiple partners within the area.”
The improper conduct included the sharing of “confidential information obtained by PwC partners engaged in Treasury consultations” with “PwC partners and employees, both within Australia and overseas, for the purpose of assisting PwC to position itself ahead of its competitors, advance its position in the market and to expand its client base.”
It also included the “practice of sharing confidential information, or ‘intelligence’, being widespread within the Tax & Legal services division despite regular and repeated references from PwC partners to the information being ‘confidential’ and that it should not be disclosed, suggesting a broad cultural acceptance for this type of behaviour and conduct”.
The board also said that Seymour had “personally received several items of email correspondence between August 2014 and January 2016, the content of which should have raised questions about the source of information being disclosed within PwC’s Tax & Legal services division”.
It said that the receipt of the emails “should also have resulted in Mr Seymour escalating or otherwise making enquiries in respect of how confidential information was being managed within the division.”
Seymour disputed the finding but said he would not appeal.
“I was not aware confidential information was being inappropriately shared, and in fact, when I first became aware of this possibility, I immediately raised it with PwC’s Legal and Risk teams and requested they investigate it,” he said.
“I was advised verbally, and in writing, that the issue was investigated and no breach of confidentiality had occurred. Prior to this occurring, no one within PwC, Treasury, the ATO or the TPB raised any concerns with me.
Seymour ‘not seeking review’ of decision
“The finding that I should have raised questions in respect of five emails received over a four-year period, can only be made with the benefit of hindsight. These five emails were also received by multiple other people, who did not raise any concerns or have had findings made against them.”
He also noted that as he had not practised as a tax agent since leaving PwC and had “no intention to do so in the future. Given this I will not be seeking review of the decision.”
The move is the highest-profile sanction of anyone involved in what has become known as the PwC tax leaks scandal. PwC’s former international tax head, Peter Collins, has also been deregistered because he shared confidential government briefings with the firm’s clients and partners. The firm then designed schemes to help clients sidestep the new multinational tax laws Collins was helping Treasury to develop.
The fallout of the scandal has led to hundreds of partners and thousands of PwC staff departing, the forced sale of multiple parts of the firm, a significant drop in its revenue, the imposition of stricter government regulations, and a loss of public and client trust in PwC and the broader consulting industry.
Tax watchdog strips former PwC Australia chief of his credentials after finding he failed to stop the firm's "widespread" misuse of confidential government information.
DAVID ROSS September 8 2025
The TPB, which oversees the tax accountant sector, handed Mr Seymour a four year ban on Tuesday, warning he failed to act honestly and with integrity and put in place arrangements to manage conflicts of interest.
The regulator warned Mr Seymour had allowed a “widespread” culture in PwC’s tax and legal practice of sharing confidential information “suggesting a broad cultural acceptance for this type of behaviour and conduct”.
The move to terminate Mr Seymour comes after a lengthy investigation by the tax system regulator, which determined he breached the Tax Agent Services Act Code of Professional Conduct.
In its findings the TPB said Mr Seymour failed to act with integrity and failed to manage conflicts of interest in PwC relating to work done in the firm’s tax and legal services divisions between July 2012 and April 2020.
Mr Seymour ran PwC from May 2020 until May 2023 when he was forced to resign in the face of the scandal surrounding the firm after the TPB struck out the firm’s former head of international tax Peter Collins.
Mr Collins and Mr Seymour previously worked closely in PwC’s tax practice, which Mr Seymour ran from 2012 to 2016.
After this Mr Seymour ran the firm’s financial advisory and Asia Pacific Americas tax business.
Mr Collins shared confidential government tax plans he had received while participating in a consultation process over plans to introduce new laws in 2016 to block multinational companies shifting profits offshore.
He shared these plans with others in the firm, allowing PwC to put in place structures for its clients in a bid to subvert the new tax.
The TPB found Mr Seymour “failed to take any action, or otherwise implement any procedures, to ensure that the actual conflicts of interest which arose for individual partners in the PwC Tax & Legal services division, as well as for PwC as a registered tax agent firm, were appropriately managed”.
The regulator also found Mr Seymour permitted “business culture to develop and operate within the Tax & Legal services division at PwC while he was the Managing Partner that included unethical and improper professional conduct by multiple partners”.
Mr Seymour “did not take action in relation to the way in which confidential information was shared within PwC’s Tax & Legal Division,” the TPB also found.
But Tom Seymour rejected the TPB’s attack on him, warning he had not been aware “confidential information was being inappropriately shared”.
“In fact, when I first became aware of this possibility, I immediately raised it with PwC’s Legal and Risk teams and requested they investigate it,” he said.
“I was advised verbally, and in writing, that the issue was investigated and no breach of confidentiality had occurred.”
Mr Seymour, who declined to comment beyond his statement, said no one at PwC, Treasury, the Australian Taxation Office, or the TPB had raised “any concerns” with him.
“The finding that I should have raised questions in respect of five emails received over a four-year period, can only be made with the benefit of hindsight,” he said.
“These five emails were also received by multiple other people, who did not raise any concerns or have had findings made against them.”
The TPB has been investigating a number of former PwC partners who received emails from Mr Collins featuring confidential information.
It has cleared several of them.
PwC has previously denied any members of its firm outside of Australia, who received confidential information shared by Mr Collins, did anything with the government plans.
However, court documents have alleged the government secrets were shared with others in the firm, with sources close to the investigation previously telling The Australian they were aware of others in the firm who were integral to PwC’s tax structuring efforts.
Former PwC International partner Matthew Chen has been named in court documents as someone who allegedly received confidential information.
PwC International seized control of PwC Australia in the wake of the scandal, installing loyalist Kevin Burrowes as CEO.
“As I have previously acknowledged, I accept leadership accountability and in doing so, stood down as CEO,” Mr Seymour said.
“Notwithstanding this, I disagree with the TPB finding that I breached the Code of Conduct and believe it is incorrect.”
Mr Seymour said his decision to stand down “does not correlate with an individual breach of the Code”.
The Brisbane-based former PwC partner said he had not worked as a tax agent since leaving the firm in 2023.
His tax agent status was due to expire in 2026.
“I have not practised as a tax agent since leaving PwC and have no intention to do so in the future. Given this I will not be seeking review of the decision,” Mr Seymour said.
The Australian Federal Police continues to investigate the PwC tax leaks.
The board found Seymour had “failed to act with integrity and failed to have in place adequate arrangements to manage conflicts of interest” relating to partner activities while he was head of the firm’s tax and legal division and its regional tax leader between 2012 and 2020.
