How much does a bookkeeper in Palm Beach cost? From $347 per month ($80 a week) for the Essentials package, or $650 per month ($150 a week) for Professional. A one-off BAS lodgement is a fixed $150. No hourly rates and no surprise invoices.
Are you set up for small owner-operated businesses? Yes. Most Palm Beach clients are owner-operated cafes, shops and trades, and the service is priced and structured for exactly that.
| Area | Registered BAS Agent | Focus here | Software |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palm Beach QLD 4221 | 26308439 | Cafes, retail & local trades | Xero · MYOB · QuickBooks |
Bookkeeping for Palm Beach businesses
Palm Beach has changed a great deal in a short time. The strip along the Gold Coast Highway and Nineteenth Avenue has filled with cafes, bakeries, small bars, studios and independent retailers, while the streets behind it still house the trades, marine services and small operators who have worked the southern end of the coast for decades.
Almost all of these are owner-operated. There is no office manager, no finance team, and the books get done at the kitchen table on a Sunday if they get done at all. What that owner needs is not a reporting pack — it is for the bookkeeping to simply happen, correctly and on time, without becoming another thing on the list.
Why Palm Beach businesses choose us
It just gets done
Receipts captured on your phone, bank feeds coded weekly, BAS prepared and sent to you for sign-off before it is due. You stop thinking about it, which is the actual product.
Priced for an owner-operator
$347 a month is a real bookkeeping service, not an entry tier that stops working the moment you hire someone or open a second door.
Someone you can actually ring
The same bookkeeper every month, reachable the same day. If you are about to sign a lease or take on a first employee, you can ask first rather than find out later.
Bookkeeping prices for Palm Beach businesses
| Service | Price | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials package | $347/month ($80/week) | Owner-operated cafes, shops, studios, trades and sole traders |
| Professional package | $650/month ($150/week) | Venues and businesses with rostered staff and higher transaction volume |
| BAS lodgement (one-off) | $150 | You do the books, we check the file and lodge |
| IAS lodgement | $66 | Monthly PAYG withholding |
| Superannuation lodgement | $50 | Super guarantee processing and lodgement |
Packages are month to month. If your volumes change we reprice openly rather than quietly adding hours to an invoice.
BAS lodgement for Palm Beach businesses
Most Palm Beach businesses lodge quarterly. Lodging electronically through a registered BAS agent gives you the concessional dates below rather than the standard ones — roughly four extra weeks on three of the four quarters.
| Quarter | Standard due date | Lodged through a BAS agent |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 — July to September | 28 October | 25 November |
| Q2 — October to December | 28 February | 28 February (no extension) |
| Q3 — January to March | 28 April | 26 May |
| Q4 — April to June | 28 July | 25 August |
For a small cafe or shop the concession matters most in the October to December quarter — which, being the only quarter with no extension, is exactly the one where you do not get it. We flag the likely figure in January.
If you lodge monthly, the activity statement is due on the 21st of the following month. The December statement is the exception — businesses under $10 million turnover reporting GST monthly through an agent have until 21 February.
We do not lodge on the last afternoon. Your figures are finalised and sent to you for sign-off with time to query anything before it goes to the ATO.
Cafes, bakeries and small venues
Daily takings across cash, card and delivery platforms, supplier accounts coded so food cost is separable, and award payroll across a small casual roster. We connect the POS to Xero so sales reconcile without anyone typing them in.
A point that catches out a lot of food businesses: not everything you sell is taxable. Basic food items are generally GST-free, prepared and hot food generally is not, and a bakery or grocer selling both needs the POS mapped so the split is captured at the till rather than estimated at the end of the quarter. Getting this wrong in either direction is one of the more common corrections we make.
Local trades and marine services
The trades working out of Palm Beach and the surrounding southern suburbs — builders, plumbers, electricians, landscapers, marine and boat services. Job-level costing so you know which work is worth taking, contractor payments coded with ABNs for the TPAR due 28 August, and vehicle and tool expenses claimed properly.
For sole-trader trades the biggest single improvement is usually getting invoicing off paper and onto the phone. Invoices raised on site get paid faster, and the file stays current without anyone doing data entry at night.
Studios, retailers and service businesses
Fitness and wellness studios, hairdressers, independent retailers and the service businesses along the strip. Packages and memberships paid up front are income in advance rather than revenue on the day they land — recognising them correctly keeps both your profit and your GST in the right period.
Onsite bookkeeping in Palm Beach
We visit clients along the Gold Coast Highway strip, Nineteenth Avenue, Palm Beach Avenue and the Tallebudgera Creek end of the suburb, as well as home-based and site-based trades across the area.
For a cafe or shop, a quick onsite visit to see how the till and the paperwork actually work is usually worth more than an hour on the phone.
Payroll, Single Touch Payroll and payday super
Small-team payroll, casual and junior rates, penalty rates, leave accruals, terminations and Single Touch Payroll reporting every pay run.
Since 1 July 2026, payday super requires super contributions to reach each employee’s fund within seven business days of payday rather than quarterly. For a small cafe with three or four casuals, the practical change is that super now has to move with each pay run, so it needs to be budgeted weekly rather than set aside for the quarter.
Catch-up bookkeeping and overdue BAS
Owner-operators fall behind because the business is the job and the paperwork is the evening. It happens constantly and it is entirely fixable.
We bring the file current, lodge the outstanding statements in the right order, and where there is a genuine reason for the delay we can approach the ATO about a payment arrangement or a remission of penalties on your behalf. Catch-up work is quoted as a fixed price once we have looked at the file, so you know what getting clean costs before you commit to it.
Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks
We work in Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks, with Hubdoc for receipt capture so paperwork is photographed once and filed automatically. If you are still running the business out of a spreadsheet and a shoebox, we will get you set up on software properly, migrate the history, and train you on the bits you actually need to touch.
More on the services behind this page
Each of the services on this page has a full guide of its own: bookkeeping on the Gold Coast, BAS lodgement and due dates, payroll, Single Touch Payroll and payday super, and Xero setup and migration. Full fees are listed on our pricing page.
Nearby suburbs we also service
We work with businesses right across this part of the Gold Coast:
Palm Beach bookkeeping FAQs
How much does a bookkeeper cost in Palm Beach?
From $347 per month for Essentials or $650 per month for Professional. One-off BAS lodgement is $150.
Is GST charged on everything my bakery sells?
No. Basic food is generally GST-free while prepared and hot food generally is not. We map your POS so the split is captured at the till rather than estimated later.
Do you work with sole trader trades?
Yes — builders, plumbers, electricians, landscapers and marine services across the southern suburbs, including TPAR and job costing.
How should memberships and prepaid packages be treated?
As income in advance, recognised as the service is delivered. Treating them as revenue on receipt overstates profit and shifts GST into the wrong period.
Do you visit Palm Beach?
Yes — the Gold Coast Highway strip, Nineteenth Avenue and the surrounding streets, plus site-based trades across the area.
Talk to a registered BAS agent in Palm Beach
Call 0488 993 679, email admin@precisionbasandbookkeeping.com.au, or book a free 20-minute chat. We will tell you honestly whether we are the right fit before you commit to anything.