Do you do your own tax?

zedstrange said:
What are some examples of what the accountant picked up that you missed?
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I hear some people who use accoutants boast about how they claimed part of their home phone bill for business or *insert of trivial thing here* and the make it sound like the greatest thing since sliced break because they found a $20 deduction :rolleyes:
 
I definitely use an accountant however I am the director of companies and have businesses so its not straight forward. Even still, tax minimisation is a vital part of investment. If you are Payg then that's still your investment. You need an accounting plan a structure and how to implement it.

Im not sure what the average price for a payg earners tax return costs however for the less than $1,000(if not $250) or whatever it costs, having a relationship with an accountant and better educating yourself each year on these things will make you better off in the long term.

Tax is a big picture thing
 
If you dont have much to claim, etc just use ETAX...its free and easy to use and you get your estimate return straight away after everything is submitted :-)

Cheers, HAPPY STACKING :-)
 
Yeah, I do my own mainly because I have a problem with the fact that if you pay an accountant to do it and they mess it up, they're not liable - you are! What a joke....how is it that an accountant can charge a fee to do a job, mess that job up and have no liability? In effect accountants are just the government's tax collectors
 
RichardAL said:
Yeah, I do my own mainly because I have a problem with the fact that if you pay an accountant to do it and they mess it up, they're not liable - you are! What a joke....how is it that an accountant can charge a fee to do a job, mess that job up and have no liability? In effect accountants are just the government's tax collectors
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They are not liable because they can only crunch numbers based on the information you have provided them. They can be liable if they get the numbers you have sent them wrong.
 
I don't do my own law and I don't do my own tax. Agree totally that you should have a good lawyer and a good accountant. My accountant has mystical properties that astound me. He made my HECS debt disappear, gets me returns I couldn't imagine getting myself and keeps me on the straight and narrow with the ATO. Worth every cent.
 
I'm on my 3rd accountant in 2 years, Everything from registering the wrong business name to the pay software we used not working for 2 months. I can do my own myself but business I cant. From the stories I hear from others as well most accountants are completely inept
 
Golightly said:
I'm on my 3rd accountant in 2 years, Everything from registering the wrong business name to the pay software we used not working for 2 months. I can do my own myself but business I cant. From the stories I hear from others as well most accountants are completely inept
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Very true, but find the right one and stick with them!
 
willrocks said:
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.
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quadruple tautology :D
 
For those who do their own returns, do you know whether I can take an immediate deduction for the bullion locker or can I only include it in the cost base once I sell?

Ironically, I just sat the CA tax exam. I think I failed...
 
Chubbsng said:
RichardAL said:
Yeah, I do my own mainly because I have a problem with the fact that if you pay an accountant to do it and they mess it up, they're not liable - you are! What a joke....how is it that an accountant can charge a fee to do a job, mess that job up and have no liability? In effect accountants are just the government's tax collectors
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They are not liable because they can only crunch numbers based on the information you have provided them. They can be liable if they get the numbers you have sent them wrong.
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Glad to hear that they can be liable.

Even so, every year there are grabs in the paper based on some intrepid reporter sending exactly the same information to a number of different accounting firms and each firm coming up with a different figure - large differences. They don't produce the same result, despite being fed identical input and their get out of jail clause is that the actual taxpayer is liable and the ATO goes with that.

The real problem is that it's very difficult to find an accountant that will work for the client as opposed to their own self-interest!!! Same goes for everyone I guess.
 
Just do your own tax until your in business and have many investments, it should pay to have a tax agent, if they cant pay for themselves and bring you a better return than you would yourself then its time to find a new agent...
 
SilverTounge15 said:
Just do your own tax until your in business
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It's trivial to do your own business return if you are a sole trader, because it's all on your personal return.
Gets much harder and messier if you become a Pty Ltd, at which point you should get an accountant to do it. Not because of the money they can save you (they often can't save you much if anything extra over doing it yourself, unless you are absolutely clueless), it's because they will simply take care of all the messy stuff you'd otherwise have to learn and spend many many hours on.

Also, if you have your own business don't forget about the $299 "gift voucher" you can buy your employees (i.e. you), up to half a dozen times a year my accountant advises is reasonable.
And this includes physical shiny metal gifts, and also gifts to metal accounts like the Perth mint.

Pre-tax metal is shinier than regular metal :D
 
mmm....shiney! said:
Care to elaborate?
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I think I've detailed this in another thread somewhere I believe, but it's called the Minor Benefits Exemption:
https://www.ato.gov.au/general/frin...ons-and-concessions/minor-benefits-exemption/

My accountant advises that up to half a dozen times per year per employee for events like birthdays, holidays, new years, FY year, milestones etc is "reasonable". But it could be more, ask your accountant.
And if they are "gift certificates" then it's guaranteed to be exempt, but it can be almost anything.
One metal dealer on this forum even offered $299 gift vouchers in the previous thread :D
But my accountant has a said Perth Mint depository gift deposit is ok too.

The company claims the git as a business deduction, and any GST back, and the employee pays no tax on it because it's not income. It's a win-win.

I'm not sure if this works for sole trader companies.

http://www.jimsbookkeeping.com.au/gifts-to-employees-associates/

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