CPA practice, East Toowoomba
Bring us the drawer.
Fixed-fee accounting for sole traders, small companies and farming families across Toowoomba and the Darling Downs. Records first, planning in May, no surprise in October.
or call (07) 5550 0080
01Fixed fees
One number for the year, agreed before we open a file
We do not bill by the six-minute unit, and we do not charge for phone calls on a fixed-fee package. Four packages cover most of the practice; the range for one-off work is printed too.
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Sole Trader Fixed Fee
Tradespeople, contractors and single-operator businesses who want one number for the year
Where most sole traders start- Individual and sole trader tax return
- Four quarterly BAS lodgements
- A quarterly review of your bookkeeping file
- One planning call before 30 June
- All ATO correspondence handled, no charge for phone calls
$1,690 a year, fixed -
Small Company Fixed Fee
Owner-operated companies turning over roughly $300,000 to $2 million
- Company tax return and financial statements
- One director individual return
- Four quarterly BAS lodgements
- ASIC annual review support
- A tax planning session in April or May
- Cash flow forecast reviewed each quarter
$4,980 a year, fixed -
Company and Trust Fixed Fee
Family businesses and farming enterprises running more than one entity
- Company and trust returns with financial statements
- Up to two individual returns
- Trust distribution resolutions prepared before 30 June
- Division 7A loan accounts maintained
- Two advisory sessions a year
- Quarterly cash flow review
$7,400 a year, fixed -
SMSF Annual Administration
Two-member funds with straightforward holdings, priced per fund
- Fund financial statements and member statements
- SMSF annual return prepared and lodged
- Investment strategy review documented and minuted
- Independent audit arranged, audit fee charged at cost
- One annual meeting on the fund's costs and strategy
$2,200 a year, fixed -
Lodgement Catch-Up
Anyone who has been avoiding the letters and wants one fixed number to fix it
- Up to three years of outstanding returns or activity statements
- Records reconstructed from bank and card statements
- Penalty remission requested where there are grounds
- Payment arrangement negotiated with the ATO
$1,250 one fixed fee
Fees are quoted in writing after the free first meeting and do not move unless the scope does and you have agreed to it. Phone calls and short emails are not charged on a fixed-fee package. ASIC, audit and government fees are passed on at cost.
02The method
Records first. Advice second. The return more or less writes itself after that.
Tabletop Accounting gets the records straight first, then plans the tax around what the business is actually doing, for sole traders, small companies and farming families across the Darling Downs.
- Cost What has to be lodged and paid. Dates you do not get to choose.
- Growth What you are building. Structure, succession, the next piece of plant.
- Forecast What gets decided early. The month that will be tight, the levers that close on 30 June.
03What we do
Nine engagements, four categories, one fixed fee
Every one of these is quoted in writing before we open a file. Most clients take an annual package and never see an itemised bill.
Compliance 03
The work that has a date on it.
- ATO liaison and lodgement catch-up Overdue returns and activity statements brought back up to date, with the ATO dealt with on your behalf. Cost $390 to $1,900
- BAS and GST lodgement Quarterly activity statements prepared, checked against the books and lodged through our BAS agent. Cost $180 to $420
- Tax returns and financial statements Individual, sole trader, company, partnership and trust returns, with financial statements you can hand to a bank. Cost $320 to $2,400
Monthly 01
The rhythm that makes everything else cheap.
Advisory 03
The conversations that are worth having before June.
- Cash flow forecasting A twelve-month rolling forecast you can actually read, updated each quarter against what really happened. Forecast $850 to $2,200
- Tax planning A planning session before 30 June, so the decisions get made while there is still time to make them. Forecast $550 to $1,650
- Business advisory and structuring Getting the structure right for what you are actually building, and the advice that goes with it. Growth $690 to $2,900
Specialist 02
Two kinds of work the Downs actually needs.
- Farm and primary production accounting Accounting built around the seasons: averaging, farm management deposits and livestock accounts. Growth $1,450 to $3,800
- SMSF review and administration Annual administration and a plain-English review of whether the fund is still worth running. Growth $1,650 to $2,950
04The order of operations
The sorting happens before the deadline, not after it
The same four steps every year, for a sole trader and for a family farming group. Only the size of the trays changes.
Cost is what has to be lodged and paid. Growth is what you are building. Forecast is what gets decided while there is still time.
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01 Every month
Records first
Bank feeds coded, bills matched, payroll run and super scheduled ahead of the date. The month is closed before the next one starts.
- Bookkeeping from $260 a month
- A one-page summary you can read
- Super scheduled, not scrambled
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02 April
Then the position
We estimate where the year is actually landing before anybody gives advice about it. Guessing in October is not advice, it is arithmetic after the fact.
- Estimate by early May
- Twelve-month cash flow updated quarterly
- The tight month named in advance
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03 May and June
Then the decisions
Superannuation, asset timing, trust distribution resolutions and the small business concessions you qualify for. All of them close on 30 June, which is why we ring you in May.
- Written actions with dates
- Resolutions signed before 30 June
- Instalment rates reset for next year
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04 July onwards
The return holds no surprises
By the time the return is prepared, every number in it has already been discussed. We walk through the result with you, then lodge.
- Reviewed against last year, line by line
- Statements in the form lenders accept
- Fixed fee, quoted in writing
05Your year, in order
The dates are fixed. When you decide is not.
Lodging through a registered agent moves three of the four BAS dates out by about four weeks. Nothing moves 30 June.
- Fixed date
- Decision window
- End of the financial year
July to December
- Jul
- 14 Jul Single Touch Payroll finalised So your staff can lodge
- 28 Jul Q4 BAS and Q4 super 25 Aug for the BAS through us
- Aug
- 25 Aug Q4 BAS, agent date Four extra weeks on lodgement and payment
- Sep
- Sep Records checklist out Early files come back fastest
- Oct
- 28 Oct Q1 BAS and Q1 super 25 Nov for the BAS through us
- 31 Oct Self-lodgers cut-off Through an agent, most returns run to May
- Nov
- 25 Nov Q1 BAS, agent date
- Dec
- Dec Books closed before the break Nothing carried into January
January to June
- Jan
- 28 Jan Q2 super
- Feb
- 28 Feb Q2 BAS The one quarter with no agent concession
- Mar
- Mar Planning meetings open Farms book around harvest
- Apr
- 28 Apr Q3 BAS and Q3 super 26 May for the BAS through us
- Apr Where the year is landing We estimate it before we advise on it
- May
- May The planning session Super, asset timing, trust resolutions
- 15 May Most returns due through an agent
- 26 May Q3 BAS, agent date
- Jun
- 30 Jun The levers close Resolutions signed, contributions received, purchases installed
ProofSince 2016
What the practice has actually done
- A fixed fee agreed in writing before any work starts, and it does not move unless you agree to a change in scope
- Every call answered or returned within one business day, tax season included
- If we miss a lodgement date that was ours to meet, we wear the late lodgement penalty
- The first meeting is free and there is no obligation to engage us afterwards
- No charge for phone calls or short emails on a fixed-fee package
- Returns lodged since 2016 Individuals, sole traders, companies, trusts and funds
- 4,200+
- Client businesses on a fixed fee Across Toowoomba and the Darling Downs
- 180
- Returns lodged by the due date Averaged across the last three financial years
- 98%
- Clients with us five years or more Of businesses that joined before 2021
- 62%
- People in the practice Two CPAs, a chartered accountant, a registered BAS agent and a practice manager
- 5
Imogen Traill Principal and Registered Tax Agent CPA, Registered Tax Agent with the Tax Practitioners Board
06The practice
A client had been with the firm for six years, paid a fee every October, and had never once been asked a question before 30 June. The return was accurate. It was also useless to him.
Why Imogen started Tabletop Accounting in 2016
We are five people and we intend to stay about that size. Imogen leads the practice and holds the tax agent registration. Rohan handles structuring and the company work, Kayla runs bookkeeping, payroll and every BAS that goes out the door, Hannah looks after superannuation and the funds, and Marcus keeps the whole thing on schedule.
About half our work is trades and small service businesses in Toowoomba, and the other half is farming families out through Oakey, Pittsworth, Cambooya and Millmerran. Both groups want the same three things: a fee they agreed to, a call returned the same day, and somebody who will say plainly when an idea is not worth doing.
- CPA Australia member practice
- Registered Tax Agent with the Tax Practitioners Board
- Registered BAS Agent on staff
- Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand member on staff
- SMSF Association specialist accreditation on staff
- Professional indemnity insured
07What clients say
Twenty kilometres of word of mouth
Six of eighteen. The rest, with a filter by service, are on the reviews page.
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Imogen drove out to the property rather than making us come into town, and worked through the livestock account with Dad at the kitchen table for two hours. First accountant we have had who understood averaging without us explaining it.
Warren K. Westbrook Farm and primary production accounting
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Quoted the fee up front and it did not change. Simple as that.
Sarah B. Rangeville Tax returns and financial statements
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I was four years behind and had been avoiding the letters. They listed what was outstanding, gave me one number for the whole lot and dealt with the ATO themselves. Payment plan sorted, penalties mostly remitted. I should have called two years earlier.
Nathan P. Harristown ATO liaison and lodgement catch-up
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Payroll has run without a hiccup for two years, super is always paid before the due date and I get a one-page summary I can actually read.
Michelle T. East Toowoomba Bookkeeping and payroll
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The forecast showed us February was going to be tight, which it was. Only gripe is the first build took a bit longer than I expected, though they did warn me it would.
Craig D. Glenvale Cash flow forecasting
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We met in early May, went through the super contributions and the trust resolutions, and everything was signed before the end of June. No October surprise for the first time in years.
Priya M. Middle Ridge Tax planning
Reviews are illustrative samples for a demonstration business.
08Where we work
Ninety kilometres, and we come to the property
Toowoomba and the Darling Downs, out to Dalby, Millmerran and Crows Nest. There is no travel charge for fixed-fee clients, because it is easier to talk about a livestock account standing in the yards than across a desk in town.
Toowoomba
- East Toowoomba
- Toowoomba City
- Rangeville
- Middle Ridge
- Centenary Heights
- Newtown
- Harristown
- Kearneys Spring
- Wilsonton
- Glenvale
- Mount Lofty
- Drayton
Out on the Downs
- Highfields
- Westbrook
- Dalby
- Cambooya
- Oakey
- Pittsworth
- Crows Nest
- Millmerran
07The first meeting
Bring the drawer
Forty-five minutes, no charge, no obligation afterwards. Long enough for us to tell you what we would charge and whether we are the right fit. In the office, at your property or on the phone.
What to bring
- Last year's return and the notice of assessment
- Access to whatever bookkeeping file you already have
- Bank statements for any account the business uses
- A rough idea of what the business does and where it is going
- Anything you have been putting off opening
Or skip the form
(07) 5550 0080- Mon to Thu 8:30am to 5:00pm
- Fri 8:30am to 4:30pm
- Sat Closed, except by appointment from July to October
- Sun Closed
Leave a message and we return it the next business morning. Fixed-fee clients can book an evening or early-morning call through the client portal, which suits people who are on a job site or in a paddock during office hours.
Thanks, that is everything we need
Demonstration only. Nothing was sent and nothing was stored. On a live site this would reach hello@tabletopaccounting.com.au and a booking would be confirmed by phone.