Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Tax Accountant in Liverpool, Sydney

Choosing a tax accountant is not like choosing a tradie. You can inspect a painter's finish before you pay. With a tax accountant, the quality of the work often only becomes clear months or years later , when the ATO reviews something, or when a deduction you could have claimed was never discussed.

Getting this decision right from the start matters. And the way to do that is to ask the right questions before you hand anyone your financial records.

Here is what to ask, and what the answers should tell you. 



Are You Registered with the Tax Practitioners Board?

In Australia, only registered tax agents can provide tax agent services for a fee. This is set out in the Tax Agent Services Act 2009. The Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) is the national regulator, and it maintains a publicly searchable register where you can check any practitioner's registration status before engaging them.

Registration requires meeting minimum education and experience thresholds, holding professional indemnity insurance, and complying with the TPB's Code of Professional Conduct. 

To qualify, individual applicants must meet minimum education standards, typically a relevant tertiary accounting qualification, alongside supervised work experience verified by a registered tax agent or employer. The exact pathway depends on their educational background and the type of services they want to provide. 

Registered agents must complete at least 20 hours of continuing professional education (CPE) per year, with a minimum of 120 hours required over each three-year CPE period. 

Registration is now renewed annually since July 2024, so it pays to check a practitioner's current status on the TPB register before you engage them. 

Do You Have Experience with My Type of Work or Business?

The deductions available to a healthcare worker at Liverpool Hospital are different from those that apply to a tradie running a sole trade in Prestons or Moorebank, a small retailer on Macquarie Street, or a property investor owning a rental in Cabramatta.

Ask whether the accountant has worked with people in your industry or with your type of financial situation. The specific areas worth asking about depend on your circumstances:

• Sole traders and small businesses should ask whether the accountant handles BAS, payroll, and the instant asset write-off, not just annual tax returns.
• People with investment properties should ask whether the accountant understands depreciation schedules, loan interest apportionment, and the difference between repairs and capital improvements.
• Those with share portfolios or crypto holdings should ask whether the accountant understands CGT calculations, cost base records, and how the ATO's data-matching programs work in practice.
• Workers in trades, healthcare, or logistics should ask whether the accountant is familiar with occupation-specific deductions relevant to those industries.

A good accountant does not need to claim they know everything. A good answer explains their relevant experience specifically, not in generalities.

Who Will Prepare My Return?

In many accounting firms, the person you speak to when you sign up is not the person who prepares your return. That is not inherently a problem , a junior preparer supervised by a senior registered agent is a standard and workable model. But you should know it before you start.

Ask who will handle your file day to day, who reviews the return before it is lodged, and who you call if you have a question between appointments. If the answer involves someone you will never meet directly, ask how oversight and quality control work in practice.

The concern is not with shared workloads. The concern is with returns prepared and lodged with no meaningful review. Ask the question and see whether the answer is specific or vague.

What Is Included in Your Fee and How Is It Structured?

Fee transparency should not be hard to get. Ask for a written fee schedule before you agree to anything.

Common fee structures in Australian accounting include a flat fee per lodgement, hourly billing, or a monthly or annual retainer for ongoing clients. Each has different implications depending on how much you are likely to need throughout the year.

Specific things to clarify upfront:

• Is the fee for the tax return only, or does it include BAS lodgements, PAYG summaries, or payroll work?
• Are there additional charges if your return is more complex than expected, and when will you be told about that?
• Is there a charge for telephone or email queries outside of appointment time?
• Does the fee include representation if the ATO queries something after lodgement?

How Do You Communicate, and How Often?

Tax advice is most useful when it arrives before decisions are made, not after. An accountant who only contacts you around lodgement time is a return filer. An accountant who reaches out when a rule changes, when an ATO compliance focus matches your industry, or when a financial decision you are considering has tax implications is an advisor.

Ask how communication works in practice:

• Do you reach out proactively, or do clients contact you when they have questions?
• What is your typical response time for emails and calls?
• Do you offer any contact between tax seasons for planning purposes?
• How will I know if a rule change affects my situation?

None of this needs to be elaborate. A reasonable answer might simply be "we're reachable by phone or email during business hours, and we usually respond within a day." That is honest and workable. What to be cautious about is an accountant who frames any mid-year contact as a billable extra, making it effectively impractical to ask questions when you actually need to.

One Final Question Worth Asking Yourself

After any introductory conversation with a potential accountant, the practical question is: did this person seem genuinely interested in my situation, or were they going through a checklist?

Tax accountants in Liverpool serve a working population spread across healthcare, construction, logistics, retail, and a growing number of small businesses in a rapidly expanding suburb. The best fit is an accountant who asks enough about your specific circumstances to give relevant advice, not someone applying the same process to every client regardless of what they do or how they earn.

The questions above give you the framework. But the answers are only as useful as your read of whether the person is actually engaged with your situation. That part requires a conversation, and it is worth having before you sign anything.