Most people who are unhappy with their accountant stay put for one reason: they assume changing will be awkward, slow or expensive. In practice there is nothing to cancel, no fee to switch, and the work of moving your records is ours, not yours. This page explains how to change tax agent, what you sign, what the ATO needs from business entities, and what your previous accountant must hand over.
Why people switch
The reasons we hear on the first call are consistent:
- No response. Emails sit for weeks, the phone goes to a message bank, and the return is lodged in May with no explanation.
- Surprise bills. An hourly invoice arrives after the work is done and it is nothing like what was expected.
- The same mistakes, year after year. A rental expense missed, a private-use adjustment forgotten, a BAS that always needs amending.
- You have outgrown them. The sole trader who did your first return is now out of their depth with a company, a trust or an SMSF, or has retired.
None of these are unusual, and none of them require a difficult conversation with the old firm. A short, polite letter from us is all it takes.
What SMT does
Once you have signed with us, we send what the profession calls an ethical letter to your previous accountant. It is standard practice: it tells them you have appointed a new agent, asks whether there is any professional reason we should not act, and requests your records with your authority. Under the Tax Practitioners Board's guidance on client property, the documents you provided (receipts, invoices, ledgers), your ATO correspondence and notices of assessment, and the returns and financial statements prepared for you and paid for are generally yours. Your old accountant may keep their own internal working papers, and that is normal. We chase the handover, so you do not have to.
We then add you to our ATO client list, check your lodgment history and account balance, confirm whether anything is overdue, and quote a fixed fee for the work ahead before any of it starts.
How switching works
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A free first call
Phone, WhatsApp or video. Tell us what you have (a wage, investments, a rental, a business, a trust) and what has not been working. You leave the call with a fixed-fee quote, not an estimate.
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Sign the online engagement letter
Our secure onboarding form takes about ten minutes. It covers the identity check every registered agent must complete and gives us written authority to act and to request your records.
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Nominate SMT in ATO Online services (businesses only)
If you are a company, trust, partnership or SMSF, the ATO requires you to nominate the new agent yourself. Enter registered agent number 26266813 in Online services for business; our nomination guide shows every screen. Individuals and sole traders skip this step entirely.
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We collect your records and take over
We write to your previous accountant, gather the file, review it, and tell you what the next due date is. From that point you deal with Sohail or Syed directly, and we reply within one business day.
What we'll need
- Your last lodged tax return and the notice of assessment, so we can see what was claimed and carry forward losses, depreciation schedules and cost bases correctly.
- Financial statements for the most recent year if you run a business, trust or SMSF, including the balance sheet and any loan or Division 7A schedules.
- ATO account access, which happens automatically for individuals once we add you, and through the nomination step for other entities.
- Software logins if your books are in Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks. You invite us as an adviser from inside the software; we never need your password.
If some of this is missing, do not worry. Most of it we can obtain from the previous accountant or from the ATO's records once we are your agent.
Timing: before 31 October is best, but any time works
The ATO's standard due date for individual returns is 31 October. Registered tax agents have a lodgment program with later due dates for clients on their list, and the ATO says that if you are using a different agent you should contact them before 31 October to be part of that program. So the ideal moment to switch is between July and October. That said, people change accountants in every month of the year, and if you arrive in February with a return already overdue, the right move is still to get it lodged promptly rather than wait for the next tax time.
What happens to unlodged work
If your previous accountant has a return or BAS half-finished, you have two choices: let them complete and lodge it, then move, or move now and have us finish it from the records. We will tell you honestly which is cheaper. If you have several years outstanding, we prepare them in order, using the ATO's pre-fill data for each year, and talk to the ATO about any penalty or interest that has built up. Catching up is one of the most common reasons people come to us, and there is no judgement attached to it.
Frequently asked
Does my old accountant have to release my files?
The documents you gave them (receipts, invoices, bank statements, ledgers), your ATO correspondence and notices of assessment, and the returns and financial statements they prepared and you paid for are, in the Tax Practitioners Board's guidance, likely to be your property. They do not have to hand over their own internal working papers. We request the file on your behalf once you have signed with us.
Can I switch accountants mid-year?
Yes. There is no restriction on when you change agents. If your previous accountant has already lodged a return or BAS, we simply pick up the next one. If something is half-finished, we agree with you whether they complete it or we do.
What if I still owe my old accountant fees?
A practitioner may be entitled to hold back work they prepared but have not been paid for, such as a draft return or a set of accounts, until that bill is settled. They cannot withhold your own source documents or ATO correspondence over it. Settling the invoice first is usually the quickest way to a clean handover, and we can still start on your current-year work while that happens.
Will the ATO know I have changed accountants?
Yes, and that is how it should work. Once we add you to our client list the ATO records us as your agent; your previous agent's access to your account ends. For companies, trusts, partnerships and SMSFs the ATO requires you to make the nomination yourself first. There is no penalty or review triggered by changing agents.
How long does switching take?
Most individual clients are fully set up within a day or two of signing the engagement letter. For business entities the nomination step is done by you in a few minutes, and the handover of records from the previous accountant typically takes one to two weeks depending on how quickly they respond.