Hire an Offshore Tax Accountant in Australia Without an Agency

Australian accounting practices are under pressure. Demand for tax preparation grows every year, but the cost of hiring tax accountants locally keeps climbing. A mid-level tax accountant in Sydney or Melbourne typically costs around $115,000 in salary alone, before super, leave and desk space.

Meanwhile, the search results for offshore tax accountants are dominated by managed service providers that charge a fixed monthly fee on top of your accountant’s actual salary, commonly adding around $24,000 to $54,000 a year in fees for a person you never directly hire.

There’s a different way to hire offshore tax accountants: directly, without an intermediary. This guide explains how Australian accounting firms do it in practice, what to look for and what it costs.

What Does an Offshore Tax Accountant Do for an Australian Practice?

A skilled offshore tax accountant working for an Australian accounting firm handles a wide scope of tax compliance and preparation work, for review by your registered agent. In practice, this includes:

Individual tax returns: preparing individual returns for salary earners, sole traders and investors, ready for your registered agent to review and lodge

Business tax returns: preparing company, trust and partnership returns across a range of entity structures

BAS preparation: monthly, quarterly and annual GST and PAYG withholding statements, prepared for review and lodgement

Financial statements: profit and loss, balance sheets and the workpapers supporting the tax position

Tax planning support: under the supervision of a senior accountant or principal, flagging CGT events, trust distribution questions and year-end planning points for the principal to consider

Bookkeeping and reconciliations: bank reconciliations, accounts payable and receivable, and Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks data entry

Client data management: maintaining client files, uploading documents and tracking lodgement deadlines

Filipino accountants who work for Australian practices usually hold a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy, and many are licensed CPAs in the Philippines. Many have also trained in Australian tax law, ATO requirements and the professional standards Australian practices work under. Our offshore accountant role page lists the tasks and software we screen for.

What Does It Cost to Hire Offshore Tax Accountants?

The cost difference between the three main approaches is significant. Here’s what Australian accounting firms typically pay. These are market estimates, not quotes:

Local hire: A qualified tax accountant in Australia typically earns around $115,000 in base salary. Add super, leave loading and employer overhead, and the fully loaded cost is usually around $140,000 a year.

Offshore managed service (agency): An outsourcing agency charges a fixed monthly fee that includes the accountant’s salary plus its margin. A common structure is around $3,500 to $6,000 a month for a dedicated senior offshore tax accountant. Over 12 months, that’s $42,000 to $72,000, with roughly $20,000 to $50,000 of it going to the agency as overhead, not to your team member.

Direct-hire offshore: A qualified Filipino tax accountant typically earns around $1,800 a month (about $21,600 a year) in base salary when hired directly, depending on experience and specialisation. You pay the salary. There’s no monthly fee and no fixed overhead. The practice keeps full control over the accountant’s workload, workflow and professional development.

To understand the real numbers behind what offshore agencies charge on top of staff salaries, see what offshore agency markups actually cost Australian businesses. The gap between direct salary and agency fee is often larger than practices realise at contract stage. You can also run your own scenario in the offshore hiring cost calculator.

What About the TPB Code? Professional Obligations for Australian Accounting Firms

This is the question Australian accounting firms ask most often, and it’s the right one. The Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) has published guidance on the professional obligations that apply when a registered tax practitioner outsources or offshores tax preparation work.

In general terms, offshoring is not prohibited, but the principal (the registered tax agent at the firm) remains responsible for the quality and compliance of work produced by offshore staff. The TPB’s guidance generally expects that:

Offshore staff are appropriately supervised and quality control processes are in place

The work is provided competently and to Australian professional standards

Client data is protected and stored in line with Australian privacy obligations

Clients are told about, and where required consent to, their data being sent offshore

Reasonable care is taken in reviewing offshore-prepared work before lodgement

None of this changes based on whether you use an agency or hire directly. The principal’s professional obligations apply regardless of the engagement model. This section is general information only. Tarino does not give tax, legal or compliance advice, so read the TPB’s current guidance and confirm your obligations with your professional body or adviser. Our overview of the compliant way to hire offshore talent in Australia shares general guidance on the wider hiring questions.

Why Every Search Result Shows an Agency

If you search for offshore tax accountants for Australian accounting firms, you’ll find managed service providers dominating the results, names like Webco Talent, Remote Accountant, Neil Outsourcing, AccountGlobal and Globus Prosourcing. Most use some version of the monthly fee model described above.

There’s no conspiracy here. They invest heavily in search visibility because the model is commercially attractive: a recurring monthly fee from an accounting practice is predictable revenue. The direct-hire model produces no recurring income for anyone except your accountant.

What you won’t find on the first page is a practical guide to sourcing, interviewing and directly hiring a Philippine-based tax accountant without a managed service intermediary. That’s the gap this guide fills. Our direct hire vs offshore staffing agency comparison covers the trade-offs in more depth.

How to Hire an Offshore Tax Accountant Directly (6 Steps)

Here’s the process Australian accounting practices use to hire directly:

Step 1: Define the scope of work clearly. Be specific about which tax preparation tasks the accountant will handle: individual returns, business returns, BAS, or a mix. Decide whether the role is a junior preparer, a senior with some planning involvement, or a senior with client communication responsibilities. The clearer the scope, the better the candidates who apply.

Step 2: Post on OnlineJobs.ph and LinkedIn. These are common sourcing channels for full-time Filipino accountants. Include the salary range, the Australian hours requirement, the software experience you need (Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks) and whether a CPA qualification is required or preferred.

Step 3: Screen for Australian tax knowledge, not just accounting qualifications. A candidate with a Philippine CPA and five years of local accounting experience is not automatically ready to prepare Australian tax returns. In the interview, ask what experience they have with Australian tax law, ATO requirements and GST/BAS preparation, and how they stay up to date with changes. The best candidates have worked for other Australian practices or trained themselves in Australian tax.

Step 4: Set a practical task before the final interview. Give shortlisted candidates a sample workpaper or a simple individual return scenario and ask them to prepare it as they would for a client. This tests competency in a way a CV and interview can’t. It also shows their approach to quality: do they flag issues they notice, or just complete what they’re asked?

Step 5: Check references with previous Australian employers. If a candidate has worked for other Australian accounting firms, ask for a reference from the principal or manager. Ask specifically about their knowledge of Australian tax, their turnaround time on returns, and what they did when they hit something unfamiliar.

Step 6: Establish your quality control and supervision process before day one. Reasonable care and supervision are central to your obligations as a registered practitioner. Before your offshore tax accountant starts, document your review process: who reviews completed returns before lodgement, which checklist they work from, and how client data is handled and stored. This protects your practice and sets your new team member up well.

For the onboarding steps after you’ve made the hire, the first 30 days with an offshore hire covers tool access, communication setup and the week-one process for a remote team member.

What to Look For in a Great Offshore Tax Accountant

Beyond qualifications and software skills, the best offshore tax accountants for Australian practices share a few traits that set them apart from candidates who only look strong on paper:

Australian tax focus, not just accounting experience. Time spent on Australian files matters more than total years in the profession. Look for candidates who have sought out Australian work instead of treating it as one more international client.

Xero and MYOB proficiency. These are the dominant platforms for Australian accounting practices. QuickBooks knowledge is useful but secondary. Ask which versions they’ve used and for how long.

Communication clarity. An offshore accountant who can clearly explain a tax position or flag a compliance issue in writing is worth much more than one who completes files silently. Test this during the interview.

ATO and TPB awareness. Candidates who understand how Australian practices work under the TPB Code, know what a BAS involves, and can discuss GST and PAYG withholding are a different calibre from those who have only worked with general international standards.

Accuracy under deadline. Tax season creates real time pressure. Ask candidates how they manage high-volume periods and what their error-checking process looks like.

The Real Cost Comparison for Australian Accounting Firms

Here are the numbers plainly. A mid-level tax accountant hired directly offshore at around $21,600 a year, against a managed service at around $55,000 a year, is a difference of about $33,400 a year. Over three years, that’s $100,200 your practice keeps, less a one-time recruitment fee. Over five years: $167,000.

That difference funds additional local hires, client acquisition, or simply better margins for the partners. For a full view of what Filipino accountants and bookkeepers typically earn at different experience levels, the Filipino staff cost guide has salary estimates for accounting roles.

How Tarino Helps Australian Accounting Practices

Tarino helps Australian accounting firms hire offshore tax accountants directly, without ongoing agency fees or monthly markups. We typically start with 1,000+ candidates per role across the Philippines and screen them in stages: CV and quality screening (40% remain), video screening focused on Australian tax knowledge (20%), a practical assessment (10%), a structured interview (5%) and finalist review (2%). You get a shortlist of 3–4 finalists in about 2 weeks. You interview them, you make the offer, and you hire your accountant directly from day one.

Our fee is $250 upfront to start the search plus $4,750 when you hire, $5,000 excl. GST in total, with the $250 credited back when you hire. Nothing monthly after that. More than 95% of our placements are still in the role at 6 months, and if a hire doesn’t work out, our 6-month replacement cover gives you a replacement search for the same role at no extra recruitment fee, on the conditions in the Scope of Work and terms.

If your practice is paying more than $40,000 a year in agency fees for offshore accounting support, the direct-hire model is worth a serious look. Compare what offshore and local hiring costs on our pricing page, see how practices like yours use offshore staff on our accounting firms page, or book a 30-minute call.