All taxi and booking services providers must be authorised by the Point to Point Transport Commissioner (Commissioner). Authorisation is an important process during which the Commissioner confirms that applicants have the right systems and procedures in place to ensure that travel is safe and accessible for all.
In some cases, circumstances change, and authorised providers may decide to stop offering taxi and/or booking services.
This may occur due to retirement, sale of the business, career changes or the departure of key business partners.
If you stop providing passenger services, it is strongly recommended that you surrender your authorisation as soon as possible. This fact sheet outlines why surrendering is important and how to do it.
Do I need to tell the Commissioner that I am going to stop providing passenger services?
Yes, and consider surrendering your service provider authorisation. There are two key reasons why:
1. To update the ‘authorisation database’:
The Commissioner maintains a publicly searchable database of all authorised taxi and/or booking service providers in NSW. If your business ceases to provide passenger services, your details must be removed. This removal occurs only when you surrender your authorisation.
2. To avoid ongoing fees:
All service providers must pay an annual authorisation fee (fee) for each financial year in which they are authorised, even if their authorisation only covered part of that year. Even if no services were provided during that year, the annual fee remains payable until authorisation is surrendered. This means you will continue to be liable to pay the fee in the situation where you have stopped providing passenger services but have not surrendered your authorisation. To avoid ongoing fees, you need to surrender your authorisation as soon as possible.
When should I surrender my authorisation?
If you have decided to surrender your authorisation, you should do this as soon as possible. Providing the Commissioner with notice of surrender is done via the Industry Portal (see below ‘How do I surrender my authorisation?’).
Once notice of your surrender of authorisation is received, the Commissioner will cancel your authorisation. The effective date of your surrender of authorisation, and subsequent cancellation, will be as follows:
- If the date you specify for surrender is on or before the day on which the Commissioner receives your notice, the effective date is the date the Commissioner receives your notice.
For example, the Commissioner receives a ‘surrender of authorisation notice’ from Clean Cabs on 5 November 2024. Clean Cabs request their authorisation be cancelled effective 1 November 2024. The cancellation cannot be backdated and so it will take effect on 5 November 2024 – the date that the Commissioner received the notice.
- If the date you specify for surrender is after the day on which the Commissioner receives the notice, the effective date is the date specified in the notice.
For example, the Commissioner receives a ‘surrender of authorisation notice’ from Terrific Tours on 3 February 2025. Terrific Tours request their authorisation be cancelled on 1 March 2025. The cancellation is forward dated and so will take effect on 1 March 2025 – the date specified in the notice.
What happens to my authorisation if I sell the business to someone else?
The answer to this question depends on the structure of your business.
1. If authorisation is held as an individual, or jointly with another person or persons under a partnership or other agreement, then your authorisation will not carry across to the buyer of your business. Your authorisation was granted based on your specific circumstances. Those circumstances become irrelevant when you sell the business to someone else.
The Commissioner will need to assess the specific circumstances of the buyer of your business and determine if they meet requirements. For this to happen, the buyer will need to apply for their own authorisation. The buyer should apply for authorisation before the business is sold to them.
Note that you will need to surrender your authorisation at an appropriate time as part of the sale process.
2. If authorisation is held as a body corporate, such as a registered company, and the company itself has been sold then the authorisation can remain with that entity. The entity will have to nominate one or more individuals to be the new nominated director or manager for authorisation purposes if the original nominated director or manager leaves the company as part of the sale.
Note that if an authorised service provider that is a body corporate ceases to have any directors or managers who are nominated, then the authorisation is automatically suspended until new directors or managers are nominated.
What else must I do when surrendering my authorisation?
In terms of your obligations to the Commissioner, you must:
1. finalise the collection and payment of all Passenger Service Levy fees which relate to the authorisation you are surrendering. For more information, refer to the Passenger Service levy webpage.
2. pay any unpaid Annual Authorisation Fees. For more information, refer to the Annual Authorisation Fees webpage.
3. resolve any outstanding operational matters.
How do I surrender my authorisation?
You need to surrender your authorisation by advising the Commissioner through the Industry Portal. The following step-by-step guide shows the steps required to do so.
1. Select the ‘Authorisation’ tab and then the authorisation that you would like to surrender by clicking
on the circular radio button on the left.
2. Click on the ‘Surrender’ button.
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3. A ‘Surrender of Authorisation’ screen will appear.
4. Use the calendar function to select the surrender date. Note: this date cannot be backdated but maybe set for a future date.
5. Read the declarations at the bottom of the screen, and if you agree, check the boxes to continue.
6. Click ‘Submit’
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7. Repeat these steps for each authorisation you wish to surrender.
Further education
Related resources are available from the Learning Centre and the following links:
• The Point to Point Transport Act and Regulation
• Do you need to be authorised? fact sheet
• Becoming an Authorised Service Provider fact sheet
• Annual Authorisation Fees fact sheet
• Find a service provider webpage
If you have any questions or need further information, please visit the Point to Point Transport Commissioner’s website or call the Industry Contact Centre on 131 727.
