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What do Australians want in a tax agent?
03 June 2022
If you are looking for a tax agent or accountant, how can you get started? Canstar research reveals a lot about what we are looking for at tax time.
Whether it’s convenience, cost or another factor that’s top of your wish list, many Aussies are weighing up their options for how to lodge a tax return. Some of us may have our routine sorted, while others are hunting through paperwork for crinkly, coffee-stained receipts that just might be tax deductions. For many of us, paying for the services of a tax professional comes next.
What options are available for submitting a tax return?
After identifying whether we need to lodge a tax return and gathering our paperwork, the ATO says we have different options for how we submit ahead of the ATO’s tax deadlines. We can lodge our tax return with a registered tax agent, submit it online with myTax, or complete a paper return.
How do Australians lodge their tax returns?
Research by Statista shows that in a recent financial year, around 9.8 million people in Australia lodged their tax return via a tax agent. In the same year, over 4.7 million Australians chose to complete their tax return through the myTax online lodgment system. In the next sections, we’ll cover more about tax agents, the preferred option for many Australians. If you’d like to find out more about myTax as the main alternative option, you can visit the ATO’s website, which also covers steps for how you might lodge a paper tax return.
What is a registered tax agent?
A registered tax agent is a specialist accountant who can prepare and lodge tax returns, according to Moneysmart. Registered tax agents specialise in taxation accounting, and have studied both tax and law. They are eligible to provide tax services to the public as long as they renew their licence every three years.
Tax practitioners who are registered with the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) have met requirements set out in the Tax Agent Services Regulations 2009 (TASR). These practitioners can include tax agents, Business Activity Statement (BAS) agents and tax (financial) advisers. They usually display their registration with the TPB’s registration symbol.
An accountant may be a registered tax agent, or they might not be. Accountants are typically employed to prepare financial statements for businesses, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they are – or aren’t – qualified to provide tax services to the public. You can check if your accountant or tax practitioner is a registered tax agent on the Tax Practitioners Board Register.
Why use a tax agent? 5 potential benefits
There are different reasons to choose to use a registered tax agent. Here are five potential benefits:
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- Minimise the likelihood of ATO penalties
- Be less stressed about your tax
- Get extended deadlines to lodge your tax return
- Simplify the tax process
- Save time.
1. Minimise the likelihood of ATO penalties
Whether you have simple tax affairs or more complex needs, there can be consequences if you don’t comply with your legal tax obligations in Australia. For example, our tax laws mean that you may be required to pay a penalty if you file your tax return late, make false or misleading statements, make fraudulent claims or fail to meet any other tax law obligations, according to the ATO. In one recent year, for example, some weird and wacky claims that were rejected by the ATO included gambling losses, dental costs, wedding expenses, LEGO gifts and beer.
Penalties can include fines, interest charges and criminal prosecution (in serious cases). The ATO can also initiate debt recovery against you if you owe money on your taxes, and this might adversely impact your credit score.
2. Be less stressed about your tax
As tax can be complicated (depending on your circumstances), you may reduce the likelihood of completing your tax return incorrectly if you seek professional advice. According to the TPB, registered tax agents are obligated to:
- act honestly and with integrity
- act lawfully in your best interests and advise you of any conflicts of interest
- take reasonable care to work out your state of affairs
- take reasonable care to correctly apply tax laws
- be competent in how they provide tax agent services
- not knowingly obstruct how taxation laws are administered
- tell you about your rights and obligations under tax laws on a timely basis
- return funds that are due to you, and
- not make false or misleading statements to the ATO.
3. Get extended deadlines to lodge your tax return
If you lodge your tax return using a registered tax agent, you’ll generally get an extension on the due date when you need to submit everything to the ATO. Australians who self-lodge their tax return are normally required to submit it by 31 October each year. However, a registered tax agent can generally submit on behalf of their clients after this date. The ATO advises, however, that: “If you are using a registered tax agent, you need to engage them before 31 October.” So, deadlines still apply.
→ Related: Tax deadlines
4. Simplify the tax process
If you are experienced at self-lodging your tax return, or at using myTax, you may find these methods fairly simple and easy to follow. But if you have more complex tax affairs, seeking advice from an expert might help.
For example, if you’ve started investing in cryptocurrencies, shares or exchange traded funds, do you know what this might mean for your taxes? What about property investment? And do you know what tax deductions you might be eligible for if you’re working from home? What about whether you can claim any tax deductions without a receipt? Registered tax agents can provide personalised tax advice that helps you to answer these questions.
Ursula Lepporoli, Global Mobility Services Tax Lead at KPMG, said that if you have complex tax residency or have participated in major transactions (such as selling a property), it could be helpful to seek professional advice. She added other reasons could include if you need help with family trusts, are self-employed or running a business, are a temporary visitor to Australia without access to a Medicare card, or have earned income or paid in an overseas country.
5. Save time
Over 1.1 million Australians with a gross income between $1 and $500,000 used a registered tax agent in a recent year to lodge their tax return to the ATO. On average, these returns took 3.1 hours per form submission. Individuals in the same income bracket who self-prepared their tax returns for the same financial year took more than 50% longer, averaging 4.7 hours per form submitted to the ATO.
What does it cost to use a registered tax agent?
According to Localsearch, personal tax return accountant fees “range from $75 to $220 on average, while the median ranges between $90 to $130 across various states”. Different providers, such as Etax, may offer returns starting from lower rates. It may be a good idea to seek out a few quotes if pricing is a personal consideration for you.
You can claim a tax deduction for expenses in managing your own tax affairs, and this can include a variety of related expenses. According to the ATO, these expenses can include those that relate to:
- buying tax reference material
- tax return preparation courses
- lodging your tax return through a registered tax agent
- obtaining tax advice from a recognised tax adviser (a registered tax agent, barrister or solicitor)
- dealing with the ATO about your tax affairs
- purchasing software to allow the completion and lodgment of your tax return.
What do Australians claim in tax deductions?
ATO figures show that nearly nine million taxpayers claimed an average of $2,331 in work-related expenses in a recent year, although only half claimed more than $1,045. Common work-related tax deductions can include car expenses, travel expenses, uniform expenses, self-education expenses, work from home expenses, phone expenses, union fees and sun protection expenses. Charity donations, personal super contributions and income protection may also be claimable, as are tax agent fees from the previous financial year.
Ahead of the federal election in 2022, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced a one-off increase to the low and middle income tax offset (LMITO) in the 2022 federal Budget. Dubbed a ‘one-off cost-of-living tax offset’, it means those eligible will get an additional $420 tax offset from July 1 this year. There’s no extra paperwork needed, and the ATO says it will calculate if you are eligible and apply the offset if you qualify.
How can I calculate my income tax?
There are various income tax calculators available, such as from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and Moneysmart to help you with calculating your income tax. Canstar has an income tax calculator that you can use to help you work out the income tax payable on gross wages, paid in equal weekly amounts.
Main image source: Pablo Rogat/Shutterstock.com
This article was reviewed by our Sub Editor Tom Letts before it was updated, as part of our fact-checking process.
- What options are available for submitting a tax return?
- How do Australians lodge their tax returns?
- What is a registered tax agent?
- Why use a tax agent? 5 potential benefits
- What does it cost to use a registered tax agent?
- What do Australians claim in tax deductions?
- How can I calculate my income tax?
