DIY tax or accountant? How sole traders can make tax time easier either way

When tax time rolls around, many sole traders ask the same question: should I do my own tax return, or pay an accountant to do it for me?

There is no single right answer. For some sole traders, lodging through myTax is manageable. For others, the time, uncertainty or complexity involved makes a registered tax agent well worth the cost.

But there is another decision that matters just as much, and it comes before either option: how organised are your records? Whether you lodge the return yourself or hand everything to an accountant, tax time is easier when your income, expenses, invoices and receipts have already been kept in order throughout the year. The real choice is not just DIY versus accountant — it is whether you arrive at tax time organised or scrambling.

Can a sole trader do their own tax return?

Yes. Australian sole traders report business income and expenses as part of their individual tax return rather than lodging a separate business return. The ATO allows sole traders to complete the relevant business sections through myTax, or to lodge through a registered tax agent. Doing your own tax is a legitimate option, particularly when your affairs are relatively straightforward and you are comfortable working through the ATO’s instructions.

The bigger question is whether DIY is the right use of your time, and whether you are confident you understand the parts of your return that apply to your circumstances.

Option 1: Doing your own tax

Why DIY tax can work well

The obvious benefit is cost — you are not paying someone else to prepare and lodge the return. It can also give you a closer understanding of your own numbers. DIY can be a reasonable fit if:

• your sole trader income and expenses are relatively simple
• you keep accurate records throughout the year
• you are comfortable using myTax and reading ATO guidance
• you understand which expenses relate to your business and have supporting records
• you do not have major uncertainty about GST, personal services income, depreciation, business losses or other complex areas

The challenge with DIY tax

The hardest part of doing your own tax is rarely clicking the buttons in myTax — it is knowing what numbers should go into those fields in the first place. A sole trader can quickly run into questions such as:

• Was this expense entirely for business, or partly private?
• Does this equipment purchase need to be treated differently from an ordinary expense?
• Have I included all my business income, and what evidence do I need for each expense?
• Does a special rule apply to my type of income, or have I dealt with GST correctly?
• Have I missed something simply because I did not know to look for it?

The ATO provides extensive guidance, but you are still responsible for making sure the information in your return is correct. DIY can save money upfront, but it may cost you time — especially if your records are scattered or you need to research every second transaction.

Option 2: Using an accountant or registered tax agent

Why an accountant can be worth it

A good accountant or registered tax agent does more than type your totals into a return. Their value is in judgement — helping you understand how tax rules apply to your circumstances, identifying questions you may not have considered, and dealing with areas that are less clear-cut. Professional support can be especially valuable when:

• your sole trader income has grown or become more complicated
• you are registered for GST or have BAS obligations
• you have a mix of business and personal use across expenses, or have purchased larger assets
• you have multiple income sources, or you are unsure about personal services income or business losses
• you want advice about planning ahead, or you simply do not want to spend your own time working through tax rules

If you pay someone to prepare or lodge your tax return or provide tax advice, check that they are appropriately registered with the Tax Practitioners Board for the services they provide.

An accountant does not remove your side of the job

One common misconception is worth clearing up: using an accountant does not mean you can ignore your records for eleven months and hand over a shoebox in July. An accountant can only work with the information available to them. If your receipts are missing, income records are incomplete or you cannot remember what an expense was for, they may need to chase you for answers or spend extra time reconstructing your year — turning professional expertise into expensive admin. The better relationship is simple: you keep your records organised, and the accountant applies their expertise to them.

The part that does not change: good records

This is where DIY tax and accountant-assisted tax become surprisingly similar. Before either route works well, you need to know:

• what business income you received, and what expenses you incurred
• which expenses were partly personal and partly for work
• where the supporting receipts and invoices are, and which invoices remain outstanding
• whether there are transactions or records that still need reviewing

The ATO says businesses need records that explain transactions connected to their tax affairs, and most business records generally need to be kept for five years, though different rules can apply in some circumstances. Good record keeping is not just about compliance — it changes the experience of tax time. Instead of spending a weekend searching your inbox and camera roll, you can start with a clear picture of the year.

How a financial companion app like Indi fits into either path

Your tax return should not be the first time you try to understand your sole trader finances. Throughout the year, an app like Indi can help you keep the information tax time will eventually depend on organised in one place — sole trader income, business expenses and the receipts attached to them, work-use percentages for expenses that are not entirely business-related, outstanding invoices, recurring costs, and overall readiness for EOFY.

Indi is deliberately not positioned as a replacement for an accountant, or as a tool that decides what you can claim. It does not tell you what your final deduction should be. Instead, it helps you answer the practical questions that come before that — did I record all my income, have I captured my expenses, which receipts are missing, and which records still need review. That is true whichever route you take:

• If you self-lodge, organised records mean you are not reconstructing your year from scratch when EOFY arrives — tax time becomes a review-and-lodge exercise instead of a search-and-rebuild one.
• If you use an accountant, the same records become a cleaner handover. Rather than starting the conversation with “I think most of my receipts are somewhere in my email,” you arrive with an organised summary and a clearer view of the year. Indi’s Tax Pack workflow is built around that handover — preparing summaries and exports, and sharing a read-only snapshot with an accountant where appropriate.

Different route. Same preparation. The goal is not to make the accountant unnecessary — it is to make the time you spend with them more useful.

A third option: the hybrid approach

For many sole traders, the most practical answer sits in the middle: manage your own financial organisation throughout the year, and still use an accountant when tax time arrives. You stay in control of your day-to-day records and know what your business earned and spent before EOFY, while your accountant still applies professional judgement where it matters. This avoids paying an accountant for basic record reconstruction, and means that if your circumstances change, your records are already in a form that makes a professional conversation easier.

DIY tax vs accountant: which route is right for you?

Doing your own tax may suit you if

• your sole trader affairs are relatively straightforward
• you are confident working through ATO guidance and have kept complete, organised records
• you are comfortable taking responsibility for the information you lodge
• the time involved is reasonable for you

Using an accountant may suit you if

• you are unsure how tax rules apply to your circumstances, or your business has become more complex
• you have GST, asset, income or deduction questions you do not feel confident answering yourself
• you value professional advice and a second set of eyes
• you would rather spend your time working on your business

And if you are somewhere between those two? That is normal. You can also start by organising the year properly and decide later whether you need professional help.

Do not wait until tax time to get tax-time ready

The biggest tax-time improvement rarely happens in the week you lodge your return — it happens in the months before that. Every receipt saved when the purchase happens, every invoice marked as paid, every expense recorded with its work-use portion, is one less thing to reconstruct from memory later. That is the opportunity for tools like Indi: not to “do your tax,” but to make sure the information you need is already organised when it is time to do it.

Your financial companion. Your sole trader money, sorted.

Official resources

• ATO — myTax business and professional items
• ATO — Supporting your small business
• Tax Practitioners Board — Finding and using a tax practitioner
• Tax Practitioners Board — Public Register