It may be tempting to, year in and year out, complete your own taxes to save money on hiring a tax agent – and for good reason. Tax agents may seem expensive, with many individuals spending upwards of $100 on their fees.

It can be easy to justify doing your own return when the amount you expect to receive back is low – why waste the money you’ll receive only for it to go back into their pockets, after all?

But a good tax agent may be able to assist you in receiving a return far greater than what you might expect, using the best tool at their disposal – their knowledge.

A tax agent is someone who is an expert at anything to do with taxes. From informing you about all your deductibles and minimising your tax liabilities to preparing tax returns on your behalf, a tax agent’s job is to free you from the cumbersome job of managing taxes.

Hiring a tax agent is useful because:

• Tax agents are well-informed about how to minimize tax liabilities. They will help you avail of the right amount of refund from ATO.

• Tax agents will put together all your tax-related documents and fill out the necessary forms for filing returns. They will ensure that your tax return is compliant with the rules of taxation.

• Using a tax agent for preparing taxes will free up your valuable time for other things.
• Your taxes will always be filed on time (that is, before October 31st for individuals)

Thus, the benefits of hiring a tax agent are many. Moreover, you can also claim the cost of using a tax agent for preparing taxes on your return.

While hiring a tax agent, make sure that they are qualified as a Registered Tax Agent with the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB). Furthermore, try to find out about the tax agent’s reputation in the market – check online reviews. Since you will be sharing a lot of sensitive personal

information with the tax agent, make sure that the agent has a good reputation in the market and is trustworthy.

The right tax agent can not only help you maximise tax refund, but they can also help you save several hours of effort that would’ve gone into preparing taxes. Choose your tax agent wisely!