Tax Accountant · Melbourne
A tax accountant in Melbourne who is also a registered tax agent.
Not every accountant can lodge your return. Preparing or lodging a tax return for a fee is restricted to registered tax agents. SML is a CPA practice and registered tax agent in Chadstone, working with individuals and businesses across Melbourne.
Who it is for
This page is for you if
- You want your return prepared by someone who can also explain the business behind it.
- Your structure has changed — a company, a trust, a new partner — and the tax position changed with it.
- You have prior-year returns outstanding and want them dealt with properly rather than ignored.
- You would rather have the conversation before 30th June than be told the result afterwards.
In practice
Two things worth knowing before you choose anyone
The first is registration. Preparing or lodging an income tax return for a fee is restricted under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 to agents registered with the Tax Practitioners Board. Registration brings qualification requirements, continuing professional education, professional indemnity insurance and an enforceable Code of Professional Conduct. It also opens the safe harbour provisions, which can protect you from certain administrative penalties where you gave a registered agent all the relevant information and the failure was theirs rather than yours. Every registration is publicly searchable on the Tax Practitioners Board register.
The second is timing. Lodging through a registered tax agent generally gives access to the tax agent lodgment program, which can move your due date well past the 31st October deadline that applies when you lodge yourself — provided you are on the agent's client list before that date and you do not have prior-year returns outstanding. That is a deadline about engaging an agent, not about finishing the return, and it is the single most commonly missed point of the whole year.
Beyond the return itself, the useful work happens before the year ends rather than after. Tax planning means looking at structure, timing, asset decisions and distributions while they can still be influenced — the composition of a trust distribution, whether an asset purchase lands in this year or next, whether a Division 7A loan needs its minimum repayment made. By the time a return is being prepared, most of those decisions have already been made for you by the calendar.
What this does not mean is a promised outcome. No one can tell you in advance what your refund will be or guarantee a particular tax result — and a registered agent is not permitted to imply otherwise. What a good process does is make sure nothing you were entitled to was missed and nothing you claimed cannot be supported.
What is included
Handled together, with the records behind it.
Individual tax returns
Including work-related deductions, investment income and rental property, with the ATO pre-fill checked with you.
Sole trader & partnership returns
Business schedules prepared from reconciled records rather than a shoebox and an estimate.
Company & trust returns
Entity returns with the distributions, loan accounts and Division 7A positions reviewed, not just reported.
Tax planning before 30th June
Structure, timing and distribution decisions looked at while they can still be influenced.
Prior-year and overdue returns
Outstanding years brought up to date in order, including dealing with the ATO where amounts are owing.
ATO reviews and correspondence
Notices, amendments and queries handled as your registered agent.
Common questions
Asked before most people pick up the phone.
Does using a tax agent extend my lodgement deadline?
Generally yes. Lodging through a registered tax agent gives access to the tax agent lodgment program, which can move your due date past 31st October. The conditions are that you are on the agent's client list before 31st October and that you do not have prior-year returns outstanding — the extension is for people who have been lodging on time, not a way to catch up.
What is the difference between an accountant and a registered tax agent?
Accountant is not a protected title on its own. Preparing or lodging a tax return for a fee is restricted to registered tax agents, and registration brings qualification, insurance and conduct obligations that are enforceable. You can check any agent's registration on the Tax Practitioners Board public register.
I have returns outstanding from previous years. What happens?
They are prepared and lodged in order, oldest first, so each year's position is built on the one before it. Where amounts are owing, payment arrangements can be discussed with the ATO as part of the same process. Leaving them is the option that gets more expensive.
Can you tell me what my refund will be before you start?
No, and you should be cautious of anyone who does. A refund depends on your income, withholding, deductions and circumstances, and a registered agent cannot promise a particular tax outcome. What can be committed to is that the position will be supportable and that nothing you were entitled to gets missed.
From the Knowledge Hub
Worth reading before we talk.
Sole Trader Tax Basics
Read guideClaiming Business Deductions
Read guideCompany Tax Return Preparation Overview
Read guideTax Planning Meeting Preparation
Read guideBased in Chadstone
Tell us the part that is actually bothering you.
We work from Waterman Chadstone, UL40, 1341 Dandenong Road, Chadstone VIC 3148, and with businesses across Chadstone, Malvern East, Oakleigh, Clayton, Glen Waverley and Box Hill — in person, by video or by phone.
SML Bookkeeping & Tax — CPA practice · Registered Tax Agent No. 26140356· Registered BAS Agent No. 25965981. General information only; please seek advice for your own circumstances.