How much should an accountant charge to lodge an annual payment summary with the ATO?

[Rach]

Hi Everyone,

My accountant has just come back to me with the fee of $330 + GST, it seems a lot when I suspect he can generate what he needs from our accounts system (Xero).

But I'm not sure and I would be interested in feedback- somewhat urgently as it's due next week!

Thank you!

[Rach]

I've just heard from him and he said he was allowing for around an hours work to do this job. Thanks for any feedback

[KarenC]

$330 sounds normal for someone who knows what they are doing and with whom you can converse? I pay $550 which includes mine and my husband's (which is a simple one for him). It also includes some free advice via emails throughout the year whenever I have a query as to what to put in for tax eg when I purchase a Capital Asset.

Sorry - you just said, Annual Payment Summary? Don't know about that one - I was talking about our annual tax returns which check all my GST payments etc and adjustments as well.

.

[nominal]

You can submit the PAYG summary by yourself straight to the ATO using an SBR enabled accounting software.

Last time it took me about a minute to do :-)

If you don't know what SBR enabled software is - see my signature.

[StellarScott]

Hi Rach

It sounds like you might need a professional bookkeeper to do your for bookkeeping function and let the accountant charge his $330 per hour for high level professional advice.

As Karen says some people pay $330 to have their tax return done so seems excessive to lodge payment summary

[Rach]

Thanks everyone- I should have mentioned that it's just for the annual PAYG payment summary not complete end of year.

I checked with another provided and they quoted $150, so I suggested that to my accountant and he was fine with it.

I'll go with that this time and do a bit more homework when I have some time up my sleeve!

Thank you for your replies

Rachel

[bennos]

Hi Rach

I was asking the same question a while back. Can't remember if I asked it on this website though.

My accountant charges $280 to lodge it, the ASIC annual fee is slightly less. I asked about this and they said it was due to making changes and work performed throughout the year. I had no changes and zero activity with my company throughout the year. They mentioned I can lodge it myself if I want but they will still charge $175 because my company is registered with them.

I am currently looking for a new accountant, not because of that (was one factor though) but a few other reasons too.