Let’s be honest tradies, bookkeeping isn’t why we’re on the tools.
Tradies spend decades perfecting their craft, and Michael Gallagher at Tax for Tradies has been perfecting his for more than a decade.
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To keep pace with the financial diversity of the modern tradie, Michael and his team founded Tax for Tradies.
“I recognised quickly that there was a need and an opportunity to help trades persons with business advice and their financial record keeping in addition to their taxation compliance work,” he said.
“Tradies were professional at their trades. But they were damaging their financial success by poor record keeping, lack of planning and budgeting.
“They were falling behind in their taxation compliance obligations.”
Cheques and balances
Based at University Hill in Bundoora to Melbourne’s north, Michael works along with his elite team – Operations Manager Ross Walker and Administration Manager Melissa Wright.
As the portfolios of tradies become more complex, Tax for Tradies has been at the forefront and delivering some of the best insight into how tradies can better handle their finances.
“The business has grown steadily over the years, but it is surging now,” Michael said.
“It was always my objective to respect each client and ensure that each client feels special.
“The motto of the firm is ‘whatever it takes’ so the clients’ issues are our issues in the firm. We go the extra mile to satisfy the needs of our clients with a ‘sense of urgency’.”
Moving with the times
Gone are the days of record keeping through a collection of stapled receipts, and Tax for Tradies knows the top tricks and tools tradies can equip themselves with to remain ahead of the curve.
“Our services offering includes record keeping software through tradies using their phones,” Michael explained.
“They take a picture of their receipt/invoice and send it to a predetermined email address where we can download and allocate the purchase to the correct expenses account.
“There are no more shoe boxes full of receipts. The hub of receipts is permanent, and it acts as an effective ATO taxation audit defence mechanism.”
Tax is one thing, but Michael said a particular strength of Tax for Tradies is providing super support, so to speak.
“One of our strengths at Tax for Tradies is in Superannuation,” Michael said.
“The ATO permits large deductions for money paid into Superannuation. Many tradies use SMSFs as vehicles to build a property empire.
“We assist with establishing the concrete formwork (the correct structure to hold the property) and the maintenance work (all the financial accounts, audit and tax work).”
Ground up
It doesn’t matter whether it’s day one of a tradie’s apprenticeship, or they’ve operated their SME for decades, Tax for Tradies caters its expertise to all career stages.
“We follow tradies through their apprenticeships to being a fully qualified employees to becoming self-employed.
“We advise on their trading structures when self-employed not just from a ‘taxation perspective’ but from an ‘asset protection’ perspective.
“We encourage separation of their business from their personal assets where there are personal assets that require protection such as the family home.”