• Some people asks

I understand that this type of question is almost like asking how long is a piece of string?
But what sort of prices should I be looking out for, in preparation and lodgment of:

1. Individual tax return
2. Company tax return
Keeping in mind that all BAS and financial records are up to date and have been using myob for all bookkeeping.
Regards,

• This is typical firm's answer

This is a great and common question to ask, and like you said, how much an accountant will charge depends on a number of factors, including:

1. Organization of records - better the records, the less time spent sorting through them.
2. Turnover of business - as a rule of thumb, the higher the turnover the more transactions there are, and hence more work involved.
3. Complexity of transactions, ie is foreign exchange involved, has there been a sale of assets/investments which attracts capital gains tax,
 etc. The more complex the transactions the higher the cost.
4. From my experience, I find that if bookkeeping and the financial statements and tax returns are all done by the same accountants,
 then it is cheaper.
I've only listed a few here, but as you can see it really is like a piece of string. The best thing to do is to discuss with the accountant
what is involved, and good accountants will have a look at your past financial statements and tax returns, ask relevant questions to
ascertain the amount of work involved, and then look at saving you a significant amount of tax.
The best accountants will also be proactive and will also give you insight into how to manage your tax going forward, and if you are in
business, provide you will advise on how to improve your business.
The range for an individual tax return can be from $250 for a basic return, to over $1,000 for complex returns, which include investment
 properties, shares, etc.
Company tax returns, including financial statements can range from $1,500 upwards depending on the circumstances.
However, bear in mind that the real value comes not from preparing the returns but 1) the tax savings you get 2) the insight into your
business that a good accountant can provide you.
Bluntly speaking, it is often the case of you get what you pay for in accounting.
For a lot of business owners, tax is quite stressful, and I'd like to think that our clients value our services and relationship because we
 provide them with
peace of mind and free up their time to do the things they truly love to do.
Hope this gives you an idea of what to look out for when choosing an accountant to prepare your tax returns.
 

• Some firm also says.

We charge $117.50 - $157.50 for most individual returns.
We charge $550 - $750 for basic company returns (typically turnover $0 - $200k and 0 - 1 employee )
Once you get up to what a consider a "larger" small business (considering we specialize in micro businesses) of $300k-1mil t/o often
 with a few employees, multiple asset leases and other financial issues, we charge a set fee of $2089.
A few of our larer businesses pay between $2000 - $10,000, but they are generally complex and also crappy records making life tough for us.
Mid tier firms will often be charging double to triple the prices given above, but our prices are pretty typical for suburban firms in Melbourne.

• What Cybook charges.

We charge $80 - $150 for most individual returns.
We charge $300 for all business returns inclusive in the plan price if you use our Xero Cyber bookkeeping service