Last reviewed October 2026 by Megan Birot, Content Editor, OurTop10. Figures checked against the sources named in the article.
What changed (29 September 2026): new guide. Fee ranges taken from published 2026 price lists and fee guides from H&R Block and five Australian accounting firms, with a worked example for a sole trader.
- A simple individual tax return costs $109 to $300. H&R Block’s in-office price starts at $109; a suburban accountant usually charges $150 to $300.
- A sole trader return runs $200 to $500. A company or trust return with financial statements is $700 to $2,500.
- Quarterly BAS lodgement costs $75 to $450 each. Year-round support for a small business runs $300 to $1,800 a month, or $2,000 to $15,000 a year depending on size.
- Accountant fees are tax deductible in the year you pay them, which knocks 30% to 47% off the real cost for most people.
Jump to: Accountant fees in 2026 · What it costs in dollars · What drives the fee · Hourly vs fixed fee · Are the fees deductible · When it is worth paying · Fee estimator · FAQs
Part of our accountants guides, which start with the OurTop10 shortlists of the best accountants in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
An accountant in Australia charges about $150 to $300 for a simple individual tax return, $200 to $500 for a sole trader, and $700 to $2,500 for a company, with hourly rates of $150 to $350 for anything outside a fixed package. Where you land inside those ranges depends on how messy your affairs are and whether you want someone who just lodges or someone who plans.
The table below is built from published 2026 price lists, not guesses. Each row names its source and the date we checked it.
Accountant fees in 2026
| Service | Typical fee | Range we found | What is included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual tax return, one job, few deductions | $150 to $200 | $109 to $300 | Return prepared and lodged; fee-from-refund often available |
| Individual return with an investment property | $350 to $450 | $354 to $600 | Rental schedule, depreciation claim, loan interest split |
| Sole trader tax return | $300 to $450 | $200 to $500 | Business schedule, deductions, PAYG instalment check |
| Company or trust return | $1,200 to $1,800 | $700 to $2,500 | Financial statements, company return, ASIC annual review |
| BAS preparation and lodgement (each) | $150 to $250 | $75 to $450 | GST reconciliation, PAYG withholding, lodgement |
| Bookkeeping (per hour) | $75 | $50 to $100 | Bank reconciliation, coding, payroll runs |
| Accountant hourly rate | $200 to $350 | $150 to $500+ | Advice, ATO correspondence, structuring, audits |
| Small business monthly package | $500 to $900 | $300 to $1,800 | Software, bookkeeping, BAS, year-end return, some advice |
Sources: hrblock.com.au fees page (Streamline from $109, Standard from $179, Rental from $354, Business from $404; page updated 18 September 2026); Arbour Advisory accountant cost guide (April 2026); Lawpath tax accountant cost guide (June 2026); Karis Tax pricing page (July 2026); Coleman Financial Group business accountant cost guide (June 2026); Scale Suite small business accounting cost guide (September 2026); Adenix Accounting Sydney cost guide (May 2026). “Typical fee” is the middle of the ranges those sources publish.
What it costs in dollars: a sole trader with one rental
Take a Sydney tradie trading as a sole trader, turning over $150,000, registered for GST, no staff, with one investment property. Here is a normal year with an accountant doing the lot.
| Item | Times a year | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| BAS lodgement at $200 each | 4 | $800 |
| Sole trader tax return with rental schedule | 1 | $600 |
| One hour of tax planning in May | 1 | $300 |
| Total before the deduction | $1,700 | |
| Tax saved by claiming the fee (at a 32% marginal rate including Medicare levy) | -$544 | |
| Real cost after tax | $1,156 |
OurTop10 calculation, 29 September 2026. Assumes bookkeeping is done by the owner in accounting software and the accountant only reviews it; fees at the “typical” column above; 2026-27 resident tax rates (30% bracket plus 2% Medicare levy). Add $50 to $100 an hour if the accountant does the bookkeeping too.
What drives the fee up or down
Complexity sets the price more than anything else. A wage earner with one payment summary is an hour’s work; a family trust that owns shares in a trading company is a week’s. Four things move the number:
- Your structure. Sole traders report inside their personal return. Companies and trusts need separate financial statements, their own return and ASIC paperwork, so the fee roughly triples.
- How tidy the records are. A reconciled Xero or MYOB file arrives ready to go. A shoebox of receipts is billed by the hour before the return even starts.
- GST and staff. Being registered for GST adds four BAS lodgements a year. Employees add payroll, superannuation and single touch payroll reporting.
- Who does the work. A partner at a chartered firm bills $350 to $500 an hour. A graduate at the same firm bills $100 to $150. Ask who will actually prepare your file.
Hourly rate or fixed fee?
Most firms now quote a fixed fee for routine work such as returns and BAS, and charge by the hour for anything unpredictable such as an ATO audit, a restructure or a dispute. A fixed fee is better for you when the job is standard, because you know the number before you start. Hourly billing is fairer when nobody can tell how long the job will take. If a firm only quotes hourly for a plain tax return, ask for a cap.
| Billing method | Best for | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed fee per job | Tax returns, BAS, annual company compliance | What is excluded, and the price of “extras” such as a rental schedule |
| Monthly package | Businesses that want bookkeeping, BAS and advice in one bill | Lock-in periods; whether the year-end return is inside the fee |
| Hourly | Audits, restructures, ATO objections, one-off advice | Who is doing the hours; ask for an estimate in writing |
Sources: Arbour Advisory (April 2026) and Coleman Financial Group (June 2026) fee guides; OurTop10 review of listed firms’ pricing pages, September 2026.
“The clients who pay the most for a tax return are the ones who turn up in October with a year’s worth of bank statements and no idea which transactions were for the business. Being disorganised will drive up your accounting fee, you don’t want to be paying for sorting you want to be paying for tax advice and services. Use a cloud accounting software, reconcile it every month and you will have better information to make decisions plus you will be able to access better advice from your accountant and halve your accounting fee.”
Adrian Chaudhary, Lead Adviser, VJC, Sydney
Are accountant fees tax deductible?
Yes. The cost of managing your tax affairs, which includes paying a registered tax agent to prepare and lodge your return, is deductible in the year you pay it. The same applies to fees for tax advice, objecting to an ATO assessment and travel to see your agent. You claim it at the “cost of managing tax affairs” item on the return the following year. For a business, accounting and bookkeeping fees are an ordinary business expense and come off the profit before tax.
What that means in real money: a $400 return fee costs a person on the 30% bracket about $272 after the deduction, and someone on the top rate about $212.
Source: ato.gov.au, Cost of managing tax affairs (checked 29 September 2026).
When paying an accountant is worth it
If you have one employer, no investments and claim under $300 of deductions, myTax is free and takes twenty minutes; paying $150 to $200 buys convenience, not a bigger refund. The maths changes fast once any of these apply:
- You run a business, even a small side one on an ABN.
- You own an investment property or sold shares, crypto or property during the year.
- You earn income overseas, or moved to or from Australia.
- You have a company, trust or self-managed super fund.
- The ATO has written to you about anything.
In those cases a good accountant usually finds more than their fee in missed deductions, and their lodgement program also pushes your due date from 31 October out to as late as 15 May the following year.
Fee estimator
Pick the description that fits and get a working range to take into your first meeting. It uses the “typical” and “range” columns from the table above.
Expect to pay about $400 to $800 for a sole trader tax return with 1 investment property. Year-round support including four BAS lodgements typically runs $2,100 to $4,300 a year.
Ranges are for guidance only and come from the published fee guides listed under Sources. Firms in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane CBDs tend to sit at the top of each range; suburban and regional firms at the bottom.
What to do next
Take the estimate above and get two written quotes. The OurTop10 shortlists of vetted Sydney accountants, Melbourne accountants and Brisbane accountants each name ten firms we have assessed, with what they specialise in. If GST is new to you, the GST calculator shows what you will be collecting, and the income tax calculator shows the tax on what is left.
FAQs
How much does a tax return cost with an accountant?
Between $109 and $300 for a simple individual return in 2026, depending on whether you use a franchise like H&R Block or a local accountant. Add roughly $150 to $250 for each investment property, and expect $200 to $500 if you are a sole trader.
How much does an accountant cost for a small business per month?
Published packages run from about $300 a month for a sole trader with simple books up to $1,800 a month for a company with staff, GST and regular advice. Most small businesses with a handful of employees land between $500 and $900 a month including BAS and the year-end return.
Can I pay the accountant out of my refund?
Many firms offer fee-from-refund, where the fee is deducted before the refund reaches you. It usually adds a processing charge of $20 to $40, so it is convenient rather than cheap. If you owe tax rather than expecting a refund, you pay the fee up front.
What is the difference between a tax agent and an accountant?
Only a registered tax agent can charge to prepare and lodge your return. Most accountants who do tax work are registered agents, but not all accountants are, and not all tax agents are qualified accountants. Check the person on the Tax Practitioners Board register before you pay.
Are cheap online tax returns any good?
For a wage earner with simple deductions, yes; the return is the same whoever lodges it. The value of a more expensive accountant shows up when there is judgement involved: what a home office claim can include, how to time a capital gain, whether a side business should become a company.
Why do accountants charge more for a company than a sole trader?
A company needs a full set of financial statements, its own tax return, an ASIC annual review and, if it pays its owners, payroll and dividend paperwork. That is three to four separate pieces of work instead of one schedule inside a personal return.
Sources
- H&R Block Australia, Tax return fees and pricing: hrblock.com.au
- Arbour Advisory, How much does an accountant cost in Australia? (2026): arbouradvisory.com.au
- Lawpath, How much should you pay an accountant in Australia in 2026?: lawpath.com.au
- Coleman Financial Group, Cost of accountant for small businesses in Australia 2026: colemanfinancialgroup.com.au
- Scale Suite, How much does an accountant cost for small businesses in Australia 2026?: scalesuite.com.au
- Karis Tax, How much does an accountant cost in Australia? 2026 pricing: karistax.com.au
- Adenix Accounting, How much does an accountant cost in Sydney? 2026 guide: adenixaccountingsydney.com.au
- Australian Taxation Office, Cost of managing tax affairs: ato.gov.au
- Tax Practitioners Board, Public register: tpb.gov.au
Megan Birot is OurTop10’s Content Editor. She holds a Certificate IV in Finance and Mortgage Broking (FNS40821) and a Diploma of Finance and Mortgage Broking Management (FNS50322), and checks every guide on the site against current lender policy, government scheme rules and state revenue office thresholds before it goes live. She also runs the editorial reviews on OurTop10’s broker, accountant, conveyancer and buyer’s agent shortlists, and writes all the media releases for the OurTop10 Reports.