Tax Returns - Cost or DIY

buzzlightyear

buzzlightyear

Currently doing the past two years tax returns and going through new accountant and they are charging me more than what I have paid previously.

I am being charged $440 per return (four IP's properties), although I have effectively provided them a spreadsheet with all the relevant information and they are providing some additional value-add and answering some of my unanswered tax questions.

1. Whilst everyone's tax affairs are different, would be interested to know (for those using an accountant) what people are paying for their tax returns.

2. Or do people DIY even with multiple property portfolios?
 
My accountant does 3 returns for us. One for me, one for Hubby & one for the Family Trust. The Trust holds multiple properties & we also hold some jointly in our personal names. I enter everything up in MYOB & send him the file at year end (or when I get around to it:eek: ). He adds in things like depreciation & gives me the journal entries for new purchases or sales. I ring him regularly throughout the year too. All up, this comes to around $2k.
 
buzzlightyear said:
Currently doing the past two years tax returns and going through new accountant and they are charging me more than what I have paid previously.

I am being charged $440 per return (four IP's properties), although I have effectively provided them a spreadsheet with all the relevant information and they are providing some additional value-add and answering some of my unanswered tax questions.

1. Whilst everyone's tax affairs are different, would be interested to know (for those using an accountant) what people are paying for their tax returns.

2. Or do people DIY even with multiple property portfolios?
Click to expand...

As an accountant that sounds damn cheap to me.
 
Buzz,

Not a bad price, I actually pay less per IP but I do all the sorting out of the receipts and I group them together, I also have depreciation schedules done for all IP's.

My interest calculations are clear as every IP has it's own loan and I also get provided with individual annual rental report from my PM's.

All my accountant has to do is to double check the receipts, enter that info into the ATO software and lodge the return.

I guess after doing all this preparation I could go one step further and lodge the tax return myself but I don't because I want someone to check my figures.

My accountant is worth every $ he gets. He will always remind me of a claim I forgot to include, or a maintenance trip I made but forgot to claim or will pick up on a receipt that I have put into the wrong pile etc etc.

Cheers
 
buzz,

i do swap if u like. i pay rough $280,000 to acountant last year. mind you bit more than 4 ips. but as said get what u pay for. $880 seems like wine bill last week so accountant better value than few cases of wine.
 
Hi Skater, your rates sound similar to ours. Our Accountant does 3 returns; one for me, one for my wife and one for my P/L company for which our bill was $1870 for 2005/2006. We have our 5 IP's split between us which he sorts out. :)
 
we are paying around $12,000 for 3 years personal and business returns... I'm p**sed about it too, because our return is only a bit bigger than that. so, I feel like we've been cheated! We were expecting a hefty return and an average bill, and instead we got an average tax return and a hefty accountant bill!
Pen
 
I do it myself on e-tax. Many people on this site know as much or more about investment property tax than some accountants do. So if I figure that if I'm going to put all of my energy into organising my affairs, I may as well enter it into a software program and lodge it to the ATO myself!

I have 6 IPs all on separate loans, all receipts and management fees are separate and I have depreciation schedules for each property.

I sort it all into a lever arch file in the same order as "Taxpack" questions and then enter all the info into e-tax myself, complete with printouts of ATO Rulings (from ATO Tax Law database) to support my decisions in case I'm ever questioned on any of my claims or deductions.
 
markxr6t said:
I do it myself on e-tax. Many people on this site know as much or more about investment property tax than some accountants do. So if I figure that if I'm going to put all of my energy into organising my affairs, I may as well enter it into a software program and lodge it to the ATO myself!

I have 6 IPs all on separate loans, all receipts and management fees are separate and I have depreciation schedules for each property.

I sort it all into a lever arch file in the same order as "Taxpack" questions and then enter all the info into e-tax myself, complete with printouts of ATO Rulings (from ATO Tax Law database) to support my decisions in case I'm ever questioned on any of my claims or deductions.
Click to expand...

I do the same for my 3 IP's. I initially used an accountant then started lodging via ETAX. Very simple to plug the new numbers in each year using the same pro-forma spreadsheet. The depreciation via the QS report is also a no brainer.
 
All,

I have been using e-tax till now but now I have been told that it’s better to use an accountant as there are more audits done for the DIY returns. Is that true or is it just another scare campaign?? My returns are fairly straightforward and I have the Depreciation schedule done by the QS as well.

Any opinions?
thanks
 
I've done my own personal returns, though now with an IP I might go to the accountant. Especially when I start the options trading. Got the accountant to do the first year of my business (last year) though. I prepared all the data in a very summarised manner. Could have done it myself I guess, but he picked up one thing which got me a bigger return (but not enough to cover his fees.......).

I'm quite happy to spend the time doing it myself, but if I do I wonder/worry how many things/$ I might miss out on here and there not knowing all the tricks of the trade.

My latest thought was to prepare them all myself, and then spend an hr or 2 going through it all with the accountant. Get him to check a few things I'm unsure on, and find any bits and pieces I might have missed out. An hr or two of his time is MUCH cheaper than getting him to prepare the whole thing (even though it is quite small and simple......).
Anyone taken this approach, and did it work well?
 
I do a bit of the work for the accountant, like compiling all of the expenses thru our Quicken program together with the interest for the loans etc.

But, I would imagine that a lot of you guys would do the same thing.

We have 3 Payg individual returns plus 4 IP's, all jointly owned and then there is always a purchase or sometimes a sale during that year, but our total bill from the accountant has never been more than $1k, :D and that is from us using two different accountants over the last 5 or 6 years. The service is I believe first class and they seem to be happy to answer any of our queries that we might have thru out the year. Not sure if we are just lucky or after reading this reply they up our next bill. :eek: Mark
 
Tax Spreadsheet

HI WillG

I am interested in your pro-forma spreadsheet??

I will be doing my own e-tax next year and have been looking for a spreadsheet to start entering/deducting receipts, payments, etc....

Do you have a good example you could share with me or any others on here can help me out? I am sure there are millions out there but I am yet to find a one for me yet!

Thanks guys in advance
 
Have you been audited?

We pay around $1300 per year for our nine investment properties but everything is prepared ready for our accountant to punch in the numbers.

Would be interesting to know how many property investors on the forum have been audited?

Shirley
 
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