Accountants for Real Estate Agents

For a principal running their own agency in NSW, the structure usually starts with a company that holds the corporation licence and trades the business, often with a discretionary trust in the ownership chain and the rent roll held separately. Licensing comes before tax: a corporation carrying on business as an agent needs its own corporation licence and a licensee in charge holding a class 1 licence. If you are still selling on commission under someone else’s licence, personal services income rules will generally stop a company or trust from changing your tax position.

Real estate agents and agency principals need a specialist accountant because the industry’s income patterns, trust account rules, and structural choices do not behave like a typical small business. Commissions arrive in lumpy, settlement-driven cycles. Trust accounts under the NSW Property and Stock Agents Act are strictly audited each year, and rent roll value carries