Get EOFY ready with top tax tips from Norwood Accountants

When Tom Bakewell began his career as an accountant more than 40 years ago, he had no idea how far it would take him.

After a small firm he was working with merged with Ernst & Young, he found himself tasked with helping to run their Papua New Guinea practice for 18 months.

“Rabaul was a fantastic spot,” he recalls fondly. “The locals were wonderful people, there was great diving and it was a lovely spot to live.”

And though he worked with everyone from local store owners and mechanics to cocoa plantations, much of the accounting work remained remarkably similar despite the dramatic shift in location.

While the big four accounting firms deal with many publicly listed companies and multinational corporations, Bakewell found that he enjoyed really getting to know his smaller clients.

So in 1993, he established Norwood Accountants as a boutique firm that allowed him to spend more one-on-one time with individual clients.

Now Tom and his team look after everything from individual returns to partnerships, trusts and companies, and can refer clients to specialists in other areas if necessary.

“I like the personal experience that comes from spending time with a client,” he says, “and most of them have become reasonably good friends of mine.”

Because many of those clients continue to work with him after he leaves Adelaide, Tom now has a client base that stretches from Queensland to the Bahamas.

“My philosophy in life is simple - I don't want stress,” he says with a smile.

“I want to enjoy my job and deal with people I like, and if I can make their life easier by helping with their taxes, everyone wins.”

Tom's Top Tax Tips

Buy Yourself Some Extra Time

If you lodge your own tax return, you have until the 31st of October to get your affairs up to date. But if you go through a tax agent, you'll have until the 15th of May next year. And if you have tax payable, we lodge on the latest date possible so you can essentially defer those payments.

Write Off Any Assets

In the past, you had to depreciate assets and write them off over a number of years. But if you have a business with a turnover of $10 million or less, you can instantly write off any asset costing less than $20,000. That could be any equipment that's necessary for your business, from carpentry tools to computers – if we need to upgrade our computers, this is when we do it.

Don't Forget Your Super

If you're an employee, your employer will contribute to your superannuation. But if you've got positive cash flow at this time of year, you can top it up and get a tax deduction. You'll pay 15% tax within the super fund and get a deduction at your marginal rate, so if you're paying tax at 50%, you effectively get a tax break of 35% on your contributions.

Find out more, visit: Norwood Accountants