Accountants for Electricians

What a TPAR actually involves

It is due 28 August each year. Paper lodgement is gone, so it has to go through software, ATO online services or a registered agent.

For every contractor you paid, you report their ABN, their name, their address, the total you paid them for the year including GST, the GST in that total, and any tax withheld where they did not quote an ABN. If a contractor changed ABN partway through the year, each ABN gets listed.

What does not go in: payments to your own employees, materials only invoices, labour hire workers, private and domestic work, and anything still unpaid at 30 June. That last one catches people, because it is the payment date that counts, not the invoice date. A report pulled straight out of your accounting software without review will usually be wrong on at least one of these.

If you have no subbies, you have no TPAR, and there is a non lodgement advice form so the ATO stops chasing you.

One apprentice and the WorkCover rules change

In Victoria you generally need WorkCover insurance if you employ anyone. There is a small exemption, but it only applies if the business has no apprentices and does not pay more than $7,500 a year in remuneration.

Read that again: taking on one apprentice triggers WorkCover registration regardless of how small your wage bill is. The exemption is gone the day you sign the training contract.

Get it wrong and there are penalties, plus you can be made to repay WorkSafe for compensation paid to an injured worker.

Supervision rules changed and they cost you hours

Apprentice supervision requirements under the Electricity Safety Act and regulations were updated with effect from 1 September 2025. An apprentice is only treated as licensed for electrical installation work while they are properly supervised.

• First year apprentices need direct supervision for all electrical installation work, at one to one. It cannot be general or broad.
• Second years may install consumer mains under general supervision, though a competency assessment may push that back to direct.
• Under broad supervision, a supervisor may oversee up to five apprentices.
• Fault finding is not permitted until at least third year. First and second years can observe from a safe distance.
• Work that is not electrical installation work, such as data cabling or test and tag, sits outside these rules.

Energy Safe does random site visits. The financial point is simple: a first year apprentice does not free up a tradesperson, they consume one. If you costed that apprentice on the assumption they would be productive on their own, your numbers are wrong. Build the supervision time into what you charge.

Certificates are a real cost, and you cannot hold them hostage

Every job needs a Certificate of Electrical Safety, and you buy them. For 2026-27 a prescribed certificate lodged online costs $39.70 and a non prescribed one costs $9.00. Paper costs more. There is no GST on them.

Prescribed work, which includes switchboards, meter boxes, main earthing and renewables like solar and battery, needs an independent inspection by a licensed inspector, and the work cannot be turned on until it has been. You arrange the inspector, not Energy Safe. Inspection should happen within eight business days of the work being finished.

One rule worth knowing: you cannot refuse to issue a certificate for any reason, including an unpaid invoice or a contract dispute. If you have been using certificates as leverage, stop. Use your terms of trade instead, and we can help you write ones that actually work.

Licensing, and a structure point most accountants miss

Two separate things that get confused. An A Grade electrician's licence lets you do electrical installation work as an employee. It does not let you contract for profit. To do that, the business has to be a Registered Electrical Contractor.

A REC needs a business supervisor with the right qualification, a technical supervisor holding a current Victorian A Grade licence, and at least $5 million in public liability cover. For 2026-27, registration is $734.30 to apply and $352.70 to renew, on a five year term. The A Grade licence is $471.50 and $235.70 on the same cycle.

Here is the one that matters when we are setting up your structure: Energy Safe does not register family trust entities. If you want to trade through a trust, the registration goes in the name of the trustee company. That is a decision to make before you set things up, not after.

What your tradesperson and apprentice cost

Under the Electrical, Electronic and Communications Contracting Award 2020 (MA000025), rates increased 4.75% from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026.

An electrical worker grade 5, which is your qualified sparky, is $1,223.11 a week or $32.19 an hour once you include the industry, tool and electrician's licence allowances. Without the licence allowance it is $1,182.82 a week.

Apprentices who started after 1 January 2014 and did not finish year 12 run from $622.72 a week in first year to $1,006.97 in fourth. Adult apprentices start at $982.95.

The allowances add up and they are easy to miss: electrician's licence allowance $40.29 a week, industry allowance $41.41, tool allowance $22.31, travel $28.26 a day where you do not provide transport, first aid $23.50 a week, and living away from home up to $720.10 a week plus meals.

Those are the award minimums only. What that person actually costs you is the wage plus 12% super, plus WorkCover, plus leave and leave loading, plus their van, fuel, tools, phone and share of your overheads. Then you lose hours again to travel, quoting and yard time that you do not bill for.

Our hourly rate calculator works out the real cost of each person and the rate you need to charge them out at. Most people find the number is higher than what they have been quoting.

Vans, tools and the write off

The $20,000 instant asset write off is now permanent from 1 July 2026 for businesses with aggregated turnover under $10 million. The limit applies per asset, so several assets can each be written off in the same year. Anything $20,000 or more goes into the small business pool at 15% in the first year and 30% after that, and if the pool balance drops under $20,000 at year end you can write the lot off.

The van is the trap. For 2026-27 the car limit is $69,883, which is the most you can base depreciation on no matter what you actually paid, and the GST credit is capped at one eleventh of that. Realistically, your tools, test gear and trailer get written off immediately and the vehicle goes into the pool.

If you are buying before 30 June, the timing matters. The asset has to be first used or installed ready for use in the year you claim it, which is not the same as having ordered it.

Super changed on 1 July 2026

Payday super started. Super has to be paid each payday and reach the employee's fund within seven business days, rather than quarterly. If you pay weekly or fortnightly, the money leaves your account a lot sooner than it used to. That is a cash flow change and it is worth modelling before it bites.

The super guarantee rate is 12% for 2026-27 and stays there.

Apprentice incentives

Electricians are on the Australian Apprenticeships Priority List, which is what makes an employer incentive available for taking one on.

What matters is the timing. The incentive settings tighten on 1 January 2027, including a reduction in the employer amount and a new rule excluding employers with 200 or more staff. Apprenticeships started before then keep the current arrangements. If you were going to put a first year on anyway, starting before the end of 2026 is worth a look. We will check what you actually qualify for rather than quoting you a headline figure.

What we actually do

We are registered tax agents in the Latrobe Valley, working with trades and small business owners across Australia. Lodgements done, on time, no surprises. Then the useful part.

• TPAR prepared and lodged properly, not pulled raw out of your software.
• Tax planned through the BAS cycle so the bill is never a shock.
• Charge out rates worked out per person, including apprentices and supervision time.
• Structure set up correctly the first time, including the trustee company point above.
• Quoted up front, every time. You will never get an invoice you did not expect.

Questions sparkies ask us

This page is general information, current at the time of writing. It is not advice and it does not take your circumstances into account. Licensing and safety requirements are set by Energy Safe Victoria and apply in Victoria only. Award rates change each 1 July and fees change annually. Before you act on any of it, have your own position reviewed. Sources: the Australian Taxation Office, Energy Safe Victoria, the Fair Work Ombudsman pay guide for MA000025, WorkSafe Victoria, and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.