An accountant can usually do your tax return quickly. For a straightforward individual return, the whole thing is often prepared and lodged in a single 30 to 60 minute appointment, or within a day or two if the accountant finalises it afterwards. More complex returns, a business, a rental property, or a messy year of records, take longer, from a few days up to a couple of weeks, mostly because there is more to work through and sometimes more information to chase. The bigger wait is usually not the accountant at all, but the ATO afterwards, which takes about two weeks to process the return and pay any refund.
How long does the appointment take?
The meeting itself is short. For a standard individual return, expect around 30 to 60 minutes, whether in person, over the phone, or online. In that time the accountant confirms your details, goes through your income and deductions, asks about anything unusual, and often prepares the return on the spot. If your affairs are simple and your paperwork is ready, many accountants will lodge it before you leave. You are usually in and out in under an hour.
How long until the return is actually lodged?
This depends on complexity and on how complete your information is. A simple salary return with everything ready can be lodged the same day. A return with investments, capital gains, or a business schedule usually takes a few days, because the accountant needs to work through the detail and may come back to you with questions. If something is missing, the clock effectively pauses until you supply it. As a rough guide, most individual returns are lodged within a day or two of the accountant having everything they need, and business returns within one to two weeks.
Can you get a same-day tax return?
Often, yes, for a simple return. If you are a salary earner with your income statement ready and only a handful of standard deductions, many accountants can prepare and lodge your return in the appointment itself, so the accountant’s part is done that day. What you cannot get same-day is the refund, because that still depends on the ATO’s two-week processing. So a same-day return means lodged today, not paid today. For anything with a business, investments, or capital gains, same-day is less realistic, since those genuinely need working through.
What makes an accountant faster or slower?
A few things drive the timeline, and most of them are on your side of the desk:
how complete and organised your documents are
how complex your return is, with more income sources and investments taking longer
how quickly you answer any questions the accountant sends back
the time of year, since July to October is peak season
whether it is your first year with that accountant, which takes a little longer to set up
The single biggest lever is your paperwork. An accountant cannot finish a return around a missing income statement or a receipt you still have to find.
Does peak season add time?
Yes, but mostly to getting an appointment rather than to the work itself. Between July and October, accountants are at their busiest, so you may wait longer for a booking and turnaround can stretch out as the queue builds. The work on your individual return is still quick once it starts. If you want it done fast, book early in the season or, better, outside the July to October rush. Lodging through a registered tax agent also buys you a later deadline, often into the following May, so there is no need to cram into October just to be on time.
Online or in person: does it change the speed?
Not really. Plenty of accountants now handle returns entirely online, where you send your documents through and approve the return electronically, which can be just as fast as sitting down in an office, sometimes faster. In-person suits people who prefer to talk it through or who have a more complex year. Either way, the speed comes down to how ready your information is, not the format of the meeting. You can lodge your return with an accountant whichever way suits you.
And then the ATO takes over
Once your accountant lodges the return, the rest of the wait is the ATO’s, not theirs. The ATO processes most returns lodged electronically within two weeks and pays any refund a few business days after that. Lodging through an accountant does not slow this down, because agent-lodged and self-lodged returns go through the same system. What a good accountant does is keep your return off the ATO’s manual review pile by making sure it is accurate and complete, which is where the real delays come from.
How to get your tax return done faster
You have more control than you might think. Arrive with everything ready, your income statement, receipts, and details of any investments or business income, so the return can be prepared in one sitting. Answer any follow-up questions from your accountant quickly, since a return often waits on a single missing detail. Book your appointment early rather than leaving it to the last week. And wait until at least late July to lodge, once your income has been finalised and pre-filled, because lodging on incomplete data leads to corrections later. Our guide to tax return deadlines and documents lists exactly what to bring.
