What to give your accountant at tax time: the sole trader checklist

The business summary

The core document is a profit and loss for the year: total income, then expenses by category, with the net profit. From bookkeeping software this is one export; FlowFi produces an accountant pack with the categorised transactions, GST treatment and totals. From a spreadsheet, tidy it into the same shape.

Alongside it, the bank statements for the year for every business account, so the accountant can spot-check and see anything uncategorised. If you took cash or were paid into a personal account, a list of that income with dates.

Assets bought and sold

A list of equipment, vehicles, computers and furniture bought during the year with the date, cost, business percentage and the tax invoice, so the accountant can apply the instant asset write-off or depreciation. Anything sold, traded in, stolen or scrapped, with what you received for it. If you have an existing asset register or depreciation schedule from last year, include it.

Vehicle records

Which method you are using. For cents per kilometre: the business kilometres for the year and how you worked them out. For the logbook method: the logbook (or the percentage from a logbook still within its five years), odometer readings at 1 July and 30 June, and total running costs by type. For a vehicle over one tonne: running costs and the business percentage with its basis. Loan or lease documents for a vehicle bought this year.

Home office

Total hours worked from home for the year, from the record you kept, for the fixed rate method. If you are using the actual cost method, the bills and the floor-area or usage basis for each. Furniture and equipment bought for the home office go in the asset list. If you think your home is a place of business and want to claim occupancy costs, say so early; it has capital gains consequences the accountant will want to discuss.

GST and PAYG

Copies of the four BAS you lodged and the amounts paid or refunded, so the return reconciles to them. PAYG instalments paid during the year, with dates; they are a credit against your tax and easy to overlook. If you had staff, the payroll summary and super paid. If you paid contractors in a TPAR industry, the TPAR you lodged.

Super

Personal super contributions you want to deduct, the fund’s acknowledgement of your notice of intent to claim (without that acknowledgement the deduction is not allowed), and the date each contribution reached the fund. See sole trader super contributions.

Everything else in your return

• Wages from any job: the income statement is in myGov, but tell the accountant it exists.
• Bank interest, dividends, managed fund statements, crypto transactions, rental property records.
• Private health insurance statement, and whether you had cover for the full year.
• Spouse’s taxable income, for Medicare levy surcharge and offsets.
• HELP or other study loan balance.
• Donations, income protection insurance premiums, tax agent fees paid last year.
• Last year’s return and notice of assessment, if this is a new accountant.

And a short note of anything unusual: a new line of business, a big purchase, a period of no trading, a client who never paid.

When to send it

If you lodge through a registered agent you usually have until well into the following year, but the earlier the accountant has the pack, the sooner the refund or the longer the warning about a bill. July and August are quiet; May is not. The end of financial year checklist covers what to do before 30 June so the pack is ready in the first week of July. If your bookkeeping has been monthly, assembling it is an hour; the categorised export, a few lists, and the documents named above.