Accountant for Commercial Lawyers Melbourne — Tax Planning for Your Practice and Your Clients

Commercial lawyers are sophisticated professionals. You advise business owners every day on structures, transactions, and risk. But when it comes to your own practice — and the tax you pay on it — are you getting the same level of advice you give your clients?

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★★★★★ 83 5-Star Google Reviews | Led by Mina Baselyous, CPA + Chartered Tax Advisor | Registered Tax Agent

The Accounting Challenges Specific to Commercial Lawyers

Running a legal practice — whether as a sole practitioner, in a partnership, or through a corporate structure — creates a specific set of tax and business challenges that most accountants don’t understand well enough to address properly.

Irregular revenue — Billing cycles, settlement dates, and retainers mean income is lumpy. Tax planning needs to reflect this, not assume a steady salary.
Partnership and profit-sharing structures — How profits are allocated between principals affects every partner’s personal tax position. This needs active management.
Practice structure hasn’t been reviewed — Many law firms started as sole traders or simple partnerships and never restructured as they grew. The tax cost of the wrong structure compounds every year.
High income, high tax rate — Senior lawyers and principals are often at the top marginal tax rate. Without income splitting and the right entity structure, you pay the maximum on everything.
Asset protection — Professional liability exposure means your personal assets need to be properly separated from practice risk.

What We Do for Commercial Lawyers

Practice Structure Optimisation

Whether you operate as a sole practitioner, through a company, or via a trust structure, we review your current setup and recommend the structure that minimises tax and protects your assets. Many lawyers are surprised by how much the wrong structure is costing them.

Income Splitting via Family Trust

Where appropriate, we use family trust structures to distribute practice income to lower-income family members — significantly reducing the overall tax rate on what your practice earns. For a principal billing at high rates, this can save tens of thousands per year.

Bucket Company Strategy

When family beneficiaries are already at high tax rates, trust income can be distributed to a bucket company — taxed at just 25% — retaining profits for future investment or property acquisition. The 25% rate applies where the company is a base rate entity, which a bucket company fed by a trading practice normally is.

Superannuation Maximisation

We ensure you’re maximising concessional contributions and, where appropriate, using catch-up contributions to build wealth in a 15% tax environment — one of the most powerful tools available to high-income professionals.

Pre-EOFY Planning

We’re in the conversation before June — not after. Timing decisions on equipment, contributions, and distributions are made when they can still be actioned, not when the year is already over.

Asset Protection

We work alongside your own legal knowledge to ensure the right entity structures are in place — separating personal wealth from practice risk and protecting what you’ve built.

For Your Business Owner Clients — A Referral Partner You Can Trust

You refer clients to barristers, mediators, and other specialists without hesitation because you know the quality of their work reflects on you. The same applies to the accountant you send your business owner clients to.

Your clients come to you for commercial advice — shareholder agreements, business acquisitions, asset purchases, restructures. Every one of those transactions has a tax dimension. And every one of those clients needs a proactive accountant in their corner, not just someone who files their return.

We work with commercial lawyers across Melbourne as trusted referral partners. When you refer a client to us, you can be confident they’ll receive:

Proactive advice — we call them, they don’t have to chase us
Deep tax technical knowledge (CPA + Chartered Tax Advisor)
A relationship-first approach that reflects well on the referral
Regular communication — we keep you in the loop where appropriate

And we refer legal work back. When our clients need commercial lawyers — for structuring, shareholder agreements, business sales, or dispute resolution — we refer to the lawyers we trust.

What Our Clients Say

“As a commercial lawyer, I have had the opportunity to work with many accountants, but Mina and his team truly stand out. Their thoroughness and exceptional communication skills made our recent collaboration an absolute success.” — Vinu Kumar, Commercial Lawyer

“They operate as strategic business and tax advisors — not just compliance accountants — working alongside other professionals almost like a board of directors for the client.” — Mario Boudewyn, Financial Adviser

“I have no hesitation to refer clients to Mina — he is knowledgeable and strategic with his advice.” — Julian Barclay

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you work alongside my existing legal structure?
Yes — we work alongside lawyers regularly and understand how to complement your advice, not conflict with it. Tax and legal structuring go hand in hand and we’re used to coordinating with legal counsel on transactions.

How do you handle referrals?
We treat every referral as a reflection of the person who sent them. We keep you informed, act professionally, and never pursue services outside the scope of what’s appropriate. And when our clients need legal help, we refer to the lawyers we trust.

What does your referral process look like?
Simple — introduce us via email or have your client book a no-obligation consultation directly. We take it from there and keep you updated on how we’re helping them.

Do you work with law firm partnerships or just sole practitioners?
Both. The structure and advice differs, but we have experience across sole practitioners, incorporated legal practices, and partnership arrangements.

Ready to Work Together?

Whether you want to explore what better tax planning looks like for your own practice, or you’d like to discuss a referral partnership for your business owner clients — start with a conversation.