How much to you pay your accountant to do your taxes?

G

gooram

I know this is how-long-is-a-piece-of-string type question, but I am yet to use an accountant for my tax return, and am considering using one this year.

As portfolio grows, it becomes more of a hassle, and good accountants aren't willing to give me a quote on my return, which is understandable.

We have a relatively complex situation, mulitple props, various degrees of ownership between my wife and I, reno's undertaken etc etc, all documentation is in good order, deprec. schedules done.

What do you guys pay your accountants at tax time, and for what (# IPs etc)

Thanks
 
Ours is around the 2k mark and that is for 3 companies (including a trust), a partnership, 9 rentals, 3 personals. I do a lot of the bookwork first and he just does the tidying up of loose ends so to speak and it does include all the calls and emails I send him through the year as well.
 
joanmc said:
Ours is around the 2k mark and that is for 3 companies (including a trust), a partnership, 9 rentals, 3 personals. I do a lot of the bookwork first and he just does the tidying up of loose ends so to speak and it does include all the calls and emails I send him through the year as well.
Click to expand...
Mind to say who's the accountant. I paid my Melbourne accountant $3500 when I summarize each IP income and expenses on a A4 sheet, he only has to data entry, then he charged me $350 for the one and only simple email query ! He lost my business forever.
 
Last edited:
Last year mine charged about $150. For 2ips, payg, and some other work related deductions.. But it took him less than 30mins. If I summarise everything better this time it will probably take him 5mins.. and another $150 ;)
 
vbplease said:
Last year mine charged about $150. For 2ips, payg, and some other work related deductions.. But it took him less than 30mins. If I summarise everything better this time it will probably take him 5mins.. and another $150 ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah I did this when I had a single IP and no other complexities... we were charged 350 each for about 30 mins data entry, so I figured I could do it myself and save 700 spanks.

Things have changed a fair bit since then though, so much so that I'm looking for a real accountant, and not the mobile tax return type.
 
Sorry, it's just that I see it from the other side where clients who THINK they've done an awesome job at presenting their data to us, when really it's an absolute mess. They then don't understand the time that actually goes into preparing their job. I am by no means accusing anyone here of being one of those clients (I am well aware some accountants over charge also!), I'm just speaking in defence of accountants that there's sometimes two sides. So apologies for my comment.
 
Gooram - a good summary spreadsheet will save your accountant time and you money. No point paying them $200/hr to add up receipts etc.
 
I pay mine approx $170, and that is for organising receipts / claiming for 1 IP which is 50/50 with my partner, and my end of year tax assessment is provided by my employer. I also have HECS and part of my salary is FBT. I also contact him regularly via phone/email over the year and I am not charged 'separately' for this.
 
If you have a quantity surveyance for the property and read up on the obligations that relate to you (which everyone should do anyways to avoid surprises & also maximise their own return) then you should be able to do it through E-tax for $0, learning many important things in the process.

Im just talking about standard tax returns with work expenses and a few IP's however, I realise how complex these can get with trusts and companies etc.
 
Brett IP said:
If you have a quantity surveyance for the property and read up on the obligations that relate to you (which everyone should do anyways to avoid surprises & also maximise their own return) then you should be able to do it through E-tax for $0, learning many important things in the process.

Im just talking about standard tax returns with work expenses and a few IP's however, I realise how complex these can get with trusts and companies etc.
Click to expand...

Yep this is what I have been doing for the last 5 years or so. I may do it again this year.
I'm going to start it, and if it all gets too hard, then I might hand it over.
With ATO website, and all my info in hand, it "should" be ok. Not to mention this trusty site of course!
 
Free!

I pay my accountant nothing, but then he is my brother.:cool: He said that if he charged me, he would need to get his own liability insurance, but is covered by the CPA for work done for free. Works for me. With the increased share buying and selling of the past couple of years (snapping up some bargains), plus being self-employed with foreign income, I have been doing a lot more of the work myself to prepare the books and he just logs on to his work computer to enter the data and ask me about anything I've missed. I read the ATO website quite a bit and reminded him of a couple of tax offsets I was eligible for.:D
 
wow ur bills all seem so cheap!

last 2 tax returns for us have been $9K and $6K :eek:

almost fell of my chair seeing that $9K one let me tell ya's :D

thats for 3 companies and a trust plus our personal tax returns......nothing too fancy but the bill certainly was!
 
Last year was $420 for 4 IPs owned 50/50 with my husband, PAYG, plus other stuff like donations etc (we sponsor a child).

(That's $420 for each tax return, his and mine ;) so a total of $840.)
 
Being that I've lived in a few cities, I've used a few accountants with various charges between $150 and $600 for personal return incl IP. I didn't see much correlation between cost and service.
 
My bill is for a few Ks, but my accountant says "if i can't give more than that in value, advice & savings I'm not doing my job and you need to find someone else".
So well >10yrs with this one, and more than happy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
Good & Cost Effective Accountant - WTB - BRIZ
Replies
7
Views
2K
Bonus
B
C
How to determine if an accountant is good?
Replies
11
Views
2K
Paul@PFI
Paul@PFI
H
Change of Accountant
Replies
3
Views
1K
hysterical
H
J
How much does your tax accountant charge?
Replies
1
Views
772
Paul@PFI
Paul@PFI
T
Minimising your Land Tax bill. This may work?
Replies
7
Views
2K
marty998
M
Back
Top