When it comes to accounting, either for your personal finances or for your small business – a lot of people choose to do it themselves. While there is no laws preventing this, it is often a very good idea to at least speak with an accountant before completing your tax return. There are a lot of benefits associated with using an accountant to complete your tax return for you, including:
You will save time:
Unless you have been doing your own tax returns for years, it probably takes you a long time to fill out your return every year. Unfortunately, the paperwork that you have to fill out to complete your tax return seems to change almost yearly, which can make it hard to keep up with if you aren’t an accountant.
An experienced accountant will know exactly what sort of paperwork they need to complete your tax return, and they should be able to fill it out quickly and efficiently. This will save you time, and allow you to do other things which could be more beneficial for your business.
Everything will be done right:
If you do your tax return yourself, there is always the chance that you will make a mistake of some sort. Although this may not end up being a problem in the long run, there is the chance of penalties or fines from the ATO if you don’t do your tax return right.
If you use an experienced accountant, they should know exactly what information needs to be included and how to include it. They shouldn’t make any mistakes, which means that you will be able to rest easy with the knowledge that your tax affairs are in order.
You may save money:
Depending on the structure of your taxable income and whether you are operating as a business or not, using an accountant may help you save significant amounts of money. Note that although decent accountants can be expensive, all accounting costs are actually tax deductible, which means that you can add them to your tax return.
Since an accountant will know their way around the tax system – presumably – they should be able to minimise your taxable income. There are a lot of ways that they might do this, including by claiming back more deductions than you may have on your own, and by claiming tax credits on certain things in certain situations.
The final word?
If you are comfortable with and feel that you understand the Australian tax system, then by all means, complete your own tax return. However, if you aren’t completely sure about how tax works, about your obligations, or about what you should include in your return, then use an accountant – it’s worth it!