Hi Imperfect mums
Just wondering who hear runs a company / hubby does?
My hubby started a business last year and we've just received our bill off accountant for tax return and I was shocked.
I am a contract bookkeeper and do all the bas etc myself and so the file we have him was completely reconciled and accurate all he needed to do was depreciation on 1 vehicle and lodge tax. He's charged is $2200 which to me seems outrageous? Just wondering if this is normal and what other people pay.
Thanks
4 Replies
Please excuse the spelling mistakes, posted in a rush
It honestly depends on what accounting firm you have chosen. There are some that are reasonable and dont charge through the roof. They are generally based on how much time they've spent on your account and depending on the accountant who has been assigned to do your work has an hourly rate that gets applied. I would suggest calling them and asking why it is so high :) they might then explain if theyve had to spend alot of time doing it. To me, it sounds excessive- I would only expect that bill from our family accountant who does our business and comes into work once a week to talk finances and what not.
Your really lucky if that's all ur accountant has charged. We also have a small business we have our book keeper do all BAS ect all he has to do is go through the accounts and then lodge the return and on average it's usually 3500 a year.
It really depends on what they did and how big/complicated the tax return is. If financial accounts are prepared then all the balance sheet items will be reconciled, some items might be deductible for accounting purposes but not deductible for tax, people generally make gst mistakes, also if there are related party loans then div 7a loans may apply, reconciling wages with payg summaries/ato, checks super is calculated correctly etc. this is only to name a few things. A bas is a preparation of amounts for gst and although I don't know how much you do for this, as a qualified accountant if I was to prepare financials, a tax return etc and required the above plus then $2,200 isn't a lot. But they may be charging a lot just stating that there might be a lot more involved so you should check with your accountant :)