Interested to hear from members as to whether or not they pay someone to do their tax for them or do it themselves? I've had nothing but bad luck trying to pay someone to do the job, but always dread doing the paperwork myself.
We used to do it back in 2005 but it just got more and more complicated, we have a family friend who does it and gives us mates' rates, pretty thorough and he doesn't take too long to do it, we found we were putting it off for about two years.
I used to have a brilliant accountant, but she retired a few years ago. The new replacement guy was so straight he was useless. So, I decided to do my own tax, and have had much better returns that the over-priced accountants ever got me.
Yeah, I expected auditing to be mentioned. But IMHO the ATO has much bigger fish to fry. Also, I don't leave myself open to being BF'd by the auditors should it ever occur.
I do my personal tax return myself. My wife is an accountant, and was a registered tax agent. but she's too conservative for my liking.
I'm doing our taxes now. I dread doing it and put it off as long as possible. I claim almost nothing as a deduction in the pathetic hope that the government will leave us T Fk alone. God knows what I'll do when I start selling metal, as my records are in a mess and early ones are missing altogether. When you are dealing with capital gains on shares it is a true nightmare. I have sold share parcels for family that are well over 2 decades old. Some include accumulations from dividend reinvestment plans, some involve capital returns, some have had spin-offs that reduce cost basis. Yet the fascists say, "yeah, self assessment - you spend weeks working this sh*t out and we can visit you and if you're wrong torture you for documentation going back 30 years, and if you can't come up with an acceptable accounting we'll make you pay credit card interest on the whole sale! For the whole nation, how many man hours are agonisingly squandered on this Orwellian sh*t. It produces nothing except loot for the government
+1 to this, even when coming across it professionally. I do my own tax. Wouldn't pay a colleague to do it
So true! What gets me is the fact that public servants do tax returns!!? WTF ? They don't pay tax! Their income IS tax, our tax. So why should the ATO go to all that expense to process tax returns for public servants when all they have to do is give them less to start off with. I guess its all part of the illusion that most of them contribute to society.
Too right! All those police officers and teachers wasting tax dollars should quit and go work in the private sector as real estate agents or telemarketers and make a decent contribution to society.
I paid someone to do my tax this year and got 40% less back then they gave me on my estimate. Absolute joke.
I used to do my own taxes, then for a couple of years got lazy and had someone else do it. Now I am back to doing my own. Doesn't take that long, it is just getting your mind wrapped around the idea of having to do it!
I use Sharesight to handle all the CGT and income reporting on my shares. Just enter the original purchaes and it poplulates all the historical divs, DRPs, share splits etc. Highly recommended. Not sure they have 2 decades of data, but worth a look... http://www.sharesight.com.au/
I do my own taxes, but since that is what I do for a living, it would be bad for business if I hired someone else.
I take the Rich Dad, Poor Dad approach and be lazy Get a Good Accountant, Good Solicitor, Good Tax Agent and then build a good relationship with them Maybe I could have saved a few dollars some years but the other years they more than make up for their costs. There is always something that you would miss that they will pick up on if they are good at their job. Plus then you can optimise the time you save into doing something else to earn/save money.
What are some examples of what the accountant picked up that you missed? I would dearly love to know what this is because every accountant I ever used or asked can't find anything.
Depens on what you have to claim. If you have investment property, or a lot of work related expenses then get an accountant to do it. Not because they will get you more, but because the ATO likes to clamp down on those things in personal returns. If you have just a regular job with minimal expenses and no investments, you are wasting your time and money using an accountant.
