Yes. Fees you pay an accountant or registered tax agent to prepare and lodge your tax return are tax deductible in Australia. They fall under what the ATO calls the cost of managing your tax affairs, which individuals claim at label D10 on their return. The deduction is not limited to the return itself. It also covers tax advice, travel to see your agent, and the cost of dealing with the ATO if a dispute comes up. The one catch is timing: you claim the fee in the income year you actually pay it, so the fee for this year’s return usually lands on next year’s.
What counts as a deductible tax cost?
Under the cost of managing your tax affairs, you can generally claim the fee your accountant or registered tax agent charges to prepare and lodge your return, fees for tax advice from a recognised tax adviser, travel costs to attend a meeting with your tax agent, the cost of objecting to or appealing an ATO decision including some legal costs, and tax reference guides or tax return software if you lodge yourself.
So it is not just the once-a-year return. Ongoing tax advice through the year is deductible too, as long as it genuinely relates to managing your tax rather than a personal or unrelated matter.
Can salary earners claim it too?
Yes. You do not need a business to claim your accountant’s fee. Any taxpayer who pays a registered tax agent to handle their return can claim it, including someone on a straight salary with a simple return. It is a common misconception that the deduction is only for businesses or investors. If you paid someone to prepare your return, the fee is deductible, and your accountant will usually include it on the following year’s return without you having to ask.
When do you claim the accountant fee?
You claim it in the year you pay it, not the year the return relates to. This is the part that trips people up. If you pay your accountant in September 2026 to finish your 2025 to 2026 return, you claim that fee on your 2026 to 2027 return, because that is the year the money left your pocket. It is worth keeping the invoice or receipt, since this is a deduction the ATO can ask you to support, just like any other.
Are accountant fees deductible for a business or sole trader?
Yes, and usually more broadly. If you run a business or work as a sole trader, the fees for preparing your business and tax returns are deductible business expenses, and so is the ongoing bookkeeping and general accounting work that keeps your tax affairs in order. If you would like a sense of typical fees, our guide to what an accountant costs for a tax return sets out the ranges. For work beyond the return, such as structuring or advisory, our business advisers can tell you what is an immediate deduction and what is treated as a capital cost.
What accountant fees are not deductible?
A few things sit outside the deduction. Fees for purely personal, non-tax work are not part of managing your tax affairs. The cost of setting up a company or a trust is usually a capital cost rather than an immediate deduction, although a business may be able to write it off over time, or sooner if it is a small business. Financial advice fees follow their own separate rules.
One recent change matters here. ATO interest charges, meaning the general interest charge and the shortfall interest charge, used to be deductible, but any of those charges incurred on or after 1 July 2025 can no longer be claimed. If you have been carrying an ATO debt, that interest is no longer a deduction, which is a change from previous years.
How much is the deduction actually worth?
Like any deduction, it reduces your taxable income, so its value depends on your marginal rate rather than being a dollar-for-dollar refund. If your accountant charges $330 and your marginal rate is 30%, the deduction lowers your tax by about $99, so the real cost of the return works out closer to $231. The higher your income, the more the deduction is worth. It is one of the few bills that partly pays for itself.
