Get Started

It can be difficult to work out who you are best to talk to on our team as we are experts in so many things!

Give us a call and talk to our New Client Team who will be able to direct you to the best person for your enquiry. In some circumstances it might be appropriate to have a joint appointment with the accounting and financial planning team.

1)     Talk to our lovely New Client Team – they will direct you to the right expert at Callaghans and answer any immediate questions you might have

2)     Before your appointment you will need to fill out our New Client Form and Terms of Engagement. 

Having this information beforehand gives us time to prepare for your appointment and provide better quality and more personalised advice during your appointment.

3)     On your appointment day – bring any documents that are relevant to your advice questions and your tax return if you are completing it with us.  Information as to what may be required can be found on our Resources page under Forms.

Don’t worry if you are still not sure what documents to bring.  We will go over your information in our appointment and highlight any missing items to follow up after our meeting.  We will also give advice as to how best to collate your documents going forwards to save you time and reduce our fees.

4)     The appointment – for new tax and advisory clients - appointments will usually run just over an hour. Advisory only appointments differ depending on the advice needed.

A junior accountant will generally sit in on the appointment to take notes.

For our new clients Callaghans’ focus is on getting to know you and what you would like to achieve in your interactions with us so that we can create a long-term partnership.  Accordingly, we only invoice for the time giving formal advice and tax strategy during the first appointment.

5)     Following your appointment Callaghans will advise of any further steps for your tax return or advisory work.  For details of our tax return preparation process see the resources page.

Callaghans invoice for advisory appointments at the conclusion of the appointment and for tax and advisory appointments when your tax returns are ready to sign. 

Not at all!  We love doing tax returns so always aim to be able to complete these for our clients as it helps us provide more comprehensive and personalised advice.  However, if you also enjoy the thrill of entering tax information, keeping up to date on legislation and talking to the ATO - we can just provide an advisory service based on our hourly rate for the interesting and more unusual concerns that come up in the process of completing your returns. 

Our ultimate goal is to make sure the Canberra community is more informed about financial matters and how the tax system works so we are keen to see you whenever the opportunity arises.

Of course.  We can always just do your return – however doing both returns allows us to review your financial and tax situation as a family and give more in-depth advice as well as to provide tax strategies for both of you and ensure correct inclusions in your returns.

As couples also need to include the other’s financial information in their tax returns it may also mean that we have to complete your tax work early - by 31 October each year – rather than by the extended tax agent deadline that we are allowed.  Completing both returns also just makes it so much easier for us to transfer information between returns.

We have spent the last year working hard to create a standardised pricing system for our accounting area to clarify what things add time (and costs) to the completion of your returns/advice and what you can do to minimise these costs and maximise your return.

Callaghans charges a base fee for individual tax returns of $330 per return and then increments add onto this depending on what is included in your return such as a rental property.  

For a more detailed quote and extended details on how we invoice for services please contact our New Client Team on (02) 6256 6000 to discuss your specific situation.