Are Accountant Fees Tax Deductible?

What tax-related costs can you claim?

The ATO lets you claim the cost of managing your own tax affairs. The most common item is the fee you pay a registered tax agent to prepare and lodge your tax return, but the deduction is wider than that.

The adviser has to be a registered tax agent with the Tax Practitioners Board, or a qualified tax relevant provider registered with ASIC. Advice from someone who is neither is not deductible, even if the advice was good.

• Tax agent fees for preparing and lodging your return or activity statements
• Tax advice from a registered tax agent, and dealing with the ATO about your affairs
• Tax reference material, courses and tax return software (work out the private use share)
• Travel to get tax advice
• Litigation costs, including Administrative Review Tribunal fees and legal costs
• The part of a financial advice fee that relates to your tax affairs, such as salary sacrifice advice

Which year do you claim your accountant's fee?

You generally claim the fee in the income year you pay it. The ATO puts it this way: you generally incur the fees in the income year you pay them. The year the return is for does not decide the timing.

Worked example: you pay your tax agent in October 2026 to prepare your 2025-26 return. October 2026 falls in the 2026-27 income year (1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027), so the fee is claimed on your 2026-27 return, lodged from July 2027. It does not go on the 2025-26 return the agent is preparing.

The same logic works backwards. If you paid your agent in August 2025 for your 2024-25 return, that fee belongs on the 2025-26 return being lodged now. It is easy to miss, so check last year's invoice before you lodge.

What you can't claim

Some costs connected with tax are not deductible. The biggest recent change is interest: the general interest charge (GIC) and shortfall interest charge (SIC) the ATO charges on or after 1 July 2025 can no longer be claimed. ATO interest charged before that date is still deductible.

You also can't claim the tax debt itself, or interest on a loan you took out to pay your tax. Financial advice that has nothing to do with your tax affairs, such as general product information or household budgeting, is not a cost of managing tax affairs.

• GIC and SIC incurred on or after 1 July 2025
• Tax advice from someone who is not a registered tax agent or qualified tax relevant provider
• Your personal tax debt, or interest on a loan to pay it
• Financial advice unrelated to managing your tax affairs

Card fees and split invoices

The ATO no longer passes card payment fees on, but older fees still follow the old rules. Credit card fees paid to the ATO are deductible if they were incurred before 1 October 2026. Debit card fees on individual tax liabilities were deductible only if incurred before 1 January 2025.

If one invoice covers your return and your spouse's, you need to split it. Keep a note of how you worked out each person's share along with the invoice, so you can show the ATO how you arrived at the claim.

Tax agent fees and the proposed $1,000 standard deduction

The government has proposed a standard deduction of up to $1,000 for work-related expenses from the 2026-27 income year. As at 31 October 2026, the ATO's page on it relies on a draft ruling (LCR 2026/D5) and does not show the law as passed. It does not apply to 2025-26 returns.

On the ATO's description, tax agent fees sit outside the standard deduction. If it goes ahead, you would still claim your tax agent fee separately, in the year you pay it, and claiming it would not reduce the standard deduction.

When to get help

Most people only need to remember two things: keep the invoice, and claim it in the year you paid it. If you have several years of fees, an invoice shared with a spouse, or ATO interest from either side of 1 July 2025, it is worth having someone check the claim.

Acquire Strategic Accounting is a registered tax agent with offices in Victoria Point and Jimboomba. We can look at what you paid and where each amount belongs.