How Much Does an Accountant Cost in Australia in 2026? Tax Returns to Business, Real Figures

There's no government-set price for tax returns in Australia. Registered tax agents set their own fees, so what you pay depends on how complex your return is, where the agent is based, and whether the work is done online or in person. The figures below are indicative market ranges drawn from published agent pricing in 2026, not official rates, so treat them as a guide and always ask for a written quote.

As a rough guide for 2026, here is what different return types tend to cost:

• Simple individual return (salary or wages, basic deductions): around $100 to $400
• Return with a rental property: add roughly $100 to $300 per property
• Return with capital gains (shares, crypto, property sale): add roughly $100 to $300+ depending on the number of transactions
• Sole trader / business schedule attached to an individual return: commonly $300 to $700+
• Returns done online or by phone are usually cheaper than a full in-office appointment

Two people with the same income can pay very different fees. A single payment summary with a standard work-related deduction is quick; a return with multiple income streams, an investment property, foreign income or a managed-fund statement takes far longer, and you pay for that time. Tidy records (logbooks, receipts, statements already sorted) keep the fee down; a shoebox of paperwork pushes it up.

If your situation is simple, you don't have to pay anyone. You can lodge yourself for free through myTax in your myGov account, and eligible people can use the ATO's free Tax Help program (covered below).

Yes. The ATO lets you claim a deduction for the cost of managing your tax affairs at item D10 of your return. This includes fees paid to a registered tax agent or recognised tax adviser to prepare and lodge your return and activity statements, the cost of obtaining tax advice, certain travel to get that advice from a recognised tax adviser, litigation costs in managing your tax affairs, and software bought to complete and lodge your return.

The timing catch is that you claim the fee in the year you pay it. So the fee for your 2025-26 return, paid when the agent does the work, is generally claimed in your 2026-27 return, not the one being prepared. The deduction only applies to advice from a recognised tax adviser, which in practice means a registered tax or BAS agent or a qualified legal practitioner. Advice from someone who isn't a recognised adviser is not deductible.

There is an important 2026 change to be aware of. From 1 July 2025, the ATO's general interest charge (GIC) and shortfall interest charge (SIC) are no longer deductible. In earlier years you could claim ATO interest charges, but interest incurred on or after 1 July 2025 cannot be claimed, regardless of which year the underlying debt relates to. It's the date the interest is incurred, not when you pay it, that matters.

Because these rules and the items you can claim are updated by the ATO, confirm the current position on the official D10 page before lodging.

In Australia, only a person or business registered with the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) can legally charge a fee to prepare or lodge your tax return, lodge activity statements, or give you tax advice. This is the single most important check before you hand over your details or pay anyone.

Registration exists to protect consumers. The TPB requires registered tax and BAS agents to meet and maintain qualification, experience and conduct standards, carry professional indemnity insurance, and follow a legislated code of conduct. If something goes wrong, you have a regulator to complain to. Using an unregistered preparer means none of those protections apply.

You can verify anyone for free on the TPB public register. Search by the person's or business's name, their ASIC registered business name, or their registration number, and you can filter by agent type, state and registration status. If they're not on the register, they cannot lawfully charge you for tax work.

A practical tip: 'accountant' is not itself a protected or regulated term, so confirm the specific person doing your return is TPB-registered, not just that the firm exists.

If you lodge your own return, the deadline is generally 31 October following the end of the financial year. Miss it and the ATO can apply failure-to-lodge penalties.

Clients of a registered tax agent usually get a much later due date under the ATO's registered agent lodgment program, commonly up to 15 May the following year for many individuals. That extension is a genuine reason people use an agent, but it comes with conditions. You must be on the agent's client list before the 31 October cut-off, and you generally must not have any prior-year returns outstanding (the concession is reserved for clients in good standing). If you sign up after 31 October, the self-lodger deadline applies to you.

The extended lodgment date does not always mean an extended payment date. The ATO sets separate payment timing, so even with a later lodgment due date you may need to pay earlier. Check with your agent about when any tax owing is actually due.

Because these dates shift year to year and can fall on weekends, confirm the current cut-offs on the ATO's registered agent lodgment program page before relying on them.

For a business, accounting is rarely a single fee. It's usually a bundle of recurring work: bookkeeping, quarterly BAS, payroll, the annual tax return and financial statements, plus advice. Many firms now price this as a fixed monthly or annual package rather than open-ended hourly billing, which makes budgeting easier. The figures below are indicative 2026 market ranges, not regulated prices.

• Sole trader, simple, clean records (BAS lodgements plus annual return and basic advice): roughly $1,500 to $4,000 a year
• Small company with a few employees (bookkeeping, payroll, quarterly BAS, company tax return and financial statements): roughly $8,000 to $15,000+ a year
• BAS preparation and lodgement on its own: commonly $150 to $500 per quarter
• Hourly rates range widely, from around $40 to $80 an hour for a junior bookkeeper up to $300 to $400+ an hour for a senior CA or partner

The biggest single driver of your bill is the state of your records. A business running clean digital books in software like Xero or MYOB, reconciled monthly, is cheap to service. A business that hands over a year of unsorted bank statements pays for the clean-up first. Volume of transactions, GST and payroll obligations, and how much strategic advice you want all push the price up or down.

Get quotes from two or three firms and make sure you're comparing the same scope. One firm's '$X a year' might include monthly bookkeeping and unlimited questions, while another's covers only the annual return.

If you operate through a company, there are mandatory regulator fees on top of your accountant's bill, and these are not optional. The main one is the ASIC annual review fee, which keeps your company registered. For a proprietary (Pty Ltd) company it is $329 for the 2025-26 year.

ASIC fees are indexed to the Consumer Price Index and usually change on 1 July each year, so the figure rises over time. Late payment is expensive: ASIC applies an automatic late fee of $98 if you pay up to one month late, and $411 if you pay more than one month late. You generally have two months from your review date to pay and to confirm your details.

Some accountants include managing your ASIC annual review and company secretarial duties in their package; others charge a separate registered-agent or company-secretary fee for it. Ask which model your accountant uses so the ASIC fee doesn't surprise you.

Because ASIC fees are reindexed annually, confirm the current amount on the official ASIC fees page before you budget.

Not everyone needs to pay an agent. If your income is around $70,000 or less and your tax affairs are simple, the ATO's free Tax Help program can prepare and lodge your return for you at no cost. Trained ATO volunteers run it from July to October each year, through community organisations, and they help you lodge using myTax.

There are conditions. Tax Help is aimed at people with straightforward affairs, so it generally isn't available if you ran a business, worked as a contractor (for example, a rideshare driver or contract cleaner), or had more complex income. Eligibility details can change each year, so check the current rules on the ATO's Tax Help page.

Even outside Tax Help, you can always lodge yourself for free through myTax in your myGov account. For many wage and salary earners with standard deductions, the return is largely pre-filled, which makes self-lodging realistic and avoids any fee.

If you do choose to pay, weigh the fee against what you get back: an agent who finds deductions you'd miss, keeps you compliant, and gives you the extended lodgment date can easily be worth more than they cost, and their fee is deductible next year.

For a basic personal return, any registered tax agent is generally enough. For business structures, trusts, international tax, complex investments or tax planning, you'll usually want a qualified accountant who is also a registered tax agent. The key designations you'll see are CPA (Certified Practising Accountant, via CPA Australia) and CA (Chartered Accountant, via Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand). Both require a degree, several years of supervised experience, exams and ongoing professional development.

In day-to-day practice the difference between a good CA and a good CPA is small; experience in your industry and situation matters more than the specific letters. What is not optional is TPB registration: a CPA or CA still must be a registered tax agent to charge you for preparing and lodging returns.

When comparing accountants, ask a few direct questions: Are you registered with the TPB (and what's your registration number)? Is the fee fixed or hourly, and what's included? Who actually does my work? How and when do you communicate? Will you handle my ASIC obligations if I have a company?

Get the scope and fee in writing before work starts. A clear engagement letter setting out what's included, what's extra, and when you'll be billed is the simplest way to avoid surprises, and it's standard practice for reputable firms.