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Bookkeeper and BAS Agent Insurance

Professional indemnity that meets the TPB requirement, placed with the markets that write bookkeepers and tax practitioners as a class. Sole practitioners we place have usually landed at approximately $550 to $700 a year. Indicative only, not a quote.

$250K+

TPB minimum by turnover

$550 to $700

Typical sole practitioner, indicative

24 to 72h

Usual certificate turnaround, all information in

Recognition

Industry Awards

THE SHORT ANSWER

What insurance does a bookkeeper or BAS agent need in Australia, and what does it cost?

A registered BAS agent or tax agent must hold professional indemnity insurance that meets the Tax Practitioners Board's minimum: $250,000 for fee turnover up to $75,000 excluding GST, $500,000 for turnover of $75,001 to $500,000, and $1,000,000 for turnover over $500,000, each inclusive of legal and defence costs. On Tank's placements a sole-practitioner bookkeeper, BAS agent or tax agent has paid approximately $550 to $700 a year. Past placements are a guide only, not a quote. Cyber insurance is the usual second policy, because PI is not designed to respond to a data breach, and handling tax file numbers carries Privacy Act obligations regardless of the practice's size.

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The limit is the smallest premium lever. Staff, payroll or HR consulting, and tax agent services are what move the price. We quote the TPB minimum and the next tier side by side so you can see the real gap.

TPB minimum
$250K / $500K / $1M by turnover
Sole practitioner
~$550 to $700 a year
With staff or consulting
~$850 to $1,300 quoted
Usual second policy
Cyber

WHERE YOU ARE

Six situations, six answers

These are the six situations we are asked about most. Each guide answers the question fully, with the TPB rule and a real placement, before it asks you for anything.

TPB REQUIREMENT

Minimum PI cover for BAS agents and tax agents

From the TPB's guideline TPB(GS) 06/2010. Turnover means fees received for tax agent or BAS services, excluding GST. Newly registered practitioners use a reasonable estimate of the coming year.

The TPB also requires retroactive cover if you had a previous policy, and recommends automatic reinstatement, fidelity cover for practices with staff, and run-off cover when you cease practising.

Tier Annual turnover (ex GST) Minimum aggregate cover
1Up to $75,000$250,000 inclusive of legal and defence costs
2$75,001 to $500,000$500,000 inclusive of legal and defence costs
3Over $500,000$1,000,000 inclusive of legal and defence costs

Source: Tax Practitioners Board, TPB(GS) 06/2010. Tax agents with a tax (financial) advice services condition sit on a separate, higher table.

WHO WE PLACE

Bookkeepers, BAS Agents and Small Tax Practices

The practices we place range from a first-year bookkeeper with a handful of clients to a tax and accounting practice with staff onshore and offshore. The questions are the same at every size: which tier, which services, whose name, and what the next tier costs.

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01

Sole practitioner BAS agents

Fee turnover under $75,000, working from home, a mix of bookkeeping, BAS lodgement and payroll processing. On our placements, usually $500,000 or $1,000,000 for approximately $550 to $700 a year.

02

Bookkeepers becoming tax agents

Adding tax agent services to an existing practice, or registering as a tax agent in your own name and trading through a company. The policy is endorsed before the first return and the insured name is matched to the structure.

03

Practices with staff or offshore support

Casual staff, payroll clients, offshore bookkeeping support reviewed in Australia. Fidelity, cyber and a $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 limit come into the conversation, and the underwriter wants the offshore review process described.

04

Bookkeepers moving into consulting

Payroll consulting, HR advice or business advisory changes the occupation the underwriter rates. Quoted, but the scope has to be described precisely, and some markets refer or decline until it is.

WHAT GETS CLAIMED

Where Bookkeeper PI Claims Come From

The exposures a bookkeeper's PI policy is written to respond to. The last one is the reason the services definition matters.

GST coding errors carried into a lodged BAS
Payroll and superannuation underpayments across multiple pay runs
Single Touch Payroll reporting errors
Bank reconciliation mistakes that hide a cash shortfall
Missed lodgement or payment deadlines and the penalties that follow
Expense categorisation that changes a client's tax position
Supplier bank details entered wrongly and a payment misdirected
Tax returns prepared outside the policy's services definition

A coding or payroll entry can be repeated across periods before anyone notices, which is why the amount at stake can be larger than the individual mistake. The policy is there for the day a client adds it up.

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POLICY SCOPE

What Bookkeeper PI Insurance Covers

A professional indemnity policy for a bookkeeper or BAS agent typically responds to these, subject to the wording, the limit and the services listed in the schedule.

Adding machine with curled paper tape, professional indemnity cover for bookkeepers
Adding machine with curled paper tape, professional indemnity cover for bookkeepers

Usually Covered

✓ Errors in bookkeeping, BAS preparation and lodgement
✓ Payroll processing and Single Touch Payroll errors
✓ Tax agent services, once they are in the services definition
✓ Legal defence costs, within or in addition to the limit
✓ Claims about work done before the policy started, back to the retroactive date
✓ Losses caused by a dishonest employee, where a fidelity extension is included or added

Not Typically Covered

✕ Your own fraud or dishonesty
✕ A data breach, ransomware or compromised email (see cyber)
✕ Services not listed in the schedule, including tax work on a bookkeeping-only policy
✕ Financial product advice
✕ Claims notified after the policy ends, unless run-off is in place
✕ Bodily injury or property damage (public liability)

The services definition and the retroactive date are the two lines on the schedule that decide most disputes. We check both against what you actually do and what you previously held. See our broking process.

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This is a general guide only. What is and isn't covered depends on the terms, conditions, limits and exclusions of your specific policy.

REAL PLACEMENTS

Bookkeepers and Tax Agents We Have Placed

Anonymised, with premiums rounded up. Placed premiums are from policies we bound; ranges are the terms returned on that submission. Indicative only, not a quote.

Premiums and outcomes described are specific to each client and indicative only. Your own terms will depend on your circumstances and the insurer.

QUESTIONS

Bookkeeper and BAS Agent Insurance FAQs

Yes. Registered BAS agents and tax agents must maintain professional indemnity insurance that meets the Tax Practitioners Board's requirements as a condition of registration, must notify the TPB of the cover, and may be asked to produce evidence of it. The minimum is set by fee turnover excluding GST: $250,000 up to $75,000, $500,000 from $75,001 to $500,000, and $1,000,000 above that, each inclusive of legal and defence costs. Bookkeepers who are not BAS registered are not legally required to hold PI, but providing BAS services for a fee requires registration, so the unregistered group is limited to bookkeepers doing no BAS work. See TPB minimum cover by turnover.
On Tank's placements a sole-practitioner bookkeeper, BAS agent or tax agent has paid approximately $550 to $700 a year, including government charges. A first-year practice with very low fees was quoted standalone PI from approximately $450 and placed PI and public liability combined at approximately $950. Where a practice adds staff, payroll or HR consulting, the terms we have seen sit at approximately $850 to $1,300, and a tax and accounting practice with staff and offshore support placed $2,000,000 at approximately $2,100. On some submissions the dearest quote has been three to four times the cheapest; on others the market was tightly bunched. Past placements are a guide only, not a quote. Full bands in the bookkeeper PI cost guide.
The TPB minimum for your turnover tier is the floor. Whether a higher limit suits your practice depends on your clients and the size of a potential error, which is something to work through with a broker. The minimum is an aggregate limit that also has to fund legal costs. On our placements, sole practitioners have mostly taken $500,000 or $1,000,000 rather than the floor, and on one placement a specialist market's $500,000 quote came in below every $250,000 quote returned on that submission. Practices with staff have generally gone to $1,000,000 or $2,000,000.
Professional indemnity is the one that is required if you are BAS or tax agent registered. Beyond that: cyber insurance if you hold client bank feeds, payroll data or tax file numbers, which BAS, payroll and ATO agent work generally involves; public liability if clients visit you or you visit them; and a business pack for contents and equipment if you work from an office. The TPB's guideline also recommends fidelity cover for employee dishonesty once you have staff.
Yes. Tax agent services have to be added to the policy's professional services definition before you lodge the first return, the limit has to be checked against the TPB tier for your new fee estimate, and the original retroactive date should be carried across. Mid-term endorsement is the usual route where the insurer will rate tax work. One bookkeeper moving to majority tax work was re-placed at approximately $700 against quotes up to $1,600. See adding tax agent services.
Both have to be covered: the company that invoices and the individual registrant. Depending on the insurer's wording the company is the insured with you named as a principal, or you are the insured with the company noted. Tell us how the registration and invoicing are set up before we bind. See PI for a new BAS or tax agent registration.
The TPB does not require it, but PI does not respond to a compromised email, ransomware or a stolen laptop full of client TFNs. Handling tax file numbers brings a practice within the Privacy Act's tax file number provisions even where the small business exemption would otherwise apply, and can bring it within the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, so check your own obligations. Practices with staff, offshore support or payroll clients that we place have generally taken PI and cyber together. See cyber insurance for bookkeepers.
PI is claims-made, so if you cancel when you stop, a claim made afterwards about earlier BAS lodgements, payroll or tax returns will generally have no policy to respond, unless you notified the circumstances while the policy was still in force. TPB(GS) 06/2010 recommends run-off cover for practitioners who cease providing services and does not prescribe a term. The markets we use commonly offer one, three, five or seven year run-off, rated off your last annual premium. See run-off cover for BAS agents.
Payroll processing errors that cause an employee to be underpaid or a client to incur penalties are the kind of claim a bookkeeper PI policy is designed for, as long as payroll processing is in the services definition. Payroll consulting and HR advice are different: some insurers rate them as a separate occupation, and on one enquiry two markets declined to quote and a third asked for the payroll scope to be clarified before offering terms. Tell us exactly what the payroll work involves.
If you only work as an employee or contractor, do not charge clients a fee in your own name, and are covered under your employer's or principal's policy, the TPB's guideline contemplates cover under that policy, and you still have to tell the TPB how you meet the requirement. If you do any work in your own name for a fee, even a few clients on the side, the requirement applies to that work in your own right and your employer's policy will not answer it.
The policy structure is the same. The difference is the professional services definition and the rate. Bookkeeping, BAS preparation and payroll processing are rated lower than tax agent services, financial statements, ASIC compliance and audit. If you provide any of the latter, the policy has to say so. See accountant PI insurance and tax agent PI insurance.
With the services description, fee estimate and business structure confirmed, quotes usually come back within a day or two and the certificate is issued on binding. Allow 24 to 72 hours from complete information in most cases.

RELATED

Related Cover and Guides

Tax Agent Professional Indemnity Insurance →
Accountant Professional Indemnity Insurance →
Professional Indemnity Insurance Brokers →
Cyber Insurance →
PI for Accountants and Bookkeepers: the Long Read →
What Is a Retroactive Date? →
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PI Written to Meet the TPB Requirement, Quoted at Two Limits

Tell us your expected fee turnover, the services you provide and how you are set up. We go to the markets that write bookkeepers and tax practitioners and come back with the minimum and the next tier side by side, usually within a day or two. We are paid by commission from the insurer on any policy placed, as set out in our Financial Services Guide.

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Last updated: 05/09/2026

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