Porters CA acts for law firms, solicitors and barristers across Perth and Western Australia. Our director Simon Terry holds a law degree as well as being a Chartered Accountant, so he understands how legal practices are run, how fees are earned and how the profession’s own rules shape the structures available to you. We look after the accounting and tax for the practice and for the practitioners behind it.
We act for sole practitioners, partnerships and incorporated legal practices. Our work covers:
The ATO sets out its compliance approach to how professional firm profits are allocated in PCG 2021/4, which applies from 1 July 2022. It is directly relevant to lawyers who share practice profits with a spouse, a family trust or a company.
An arrangement must first pass two gateways: it must have a sound commercial rationale, and it must not have high-risk features such as non-arm’s length financing or multiple classes of shares. It is then scored on three factors:
The score places the arrangement in a green, amber or red risk zone. Transitional arrangements for older structures ended on 30 June 2024, so a structure set up under earlier guidelines and not reviewed since may no longer sit where you expect. We model your arrangement against the guideline and document the commercial reasons for it.
Often, yes, but only if it is run properly. A service entity can employ staff, hold equipment and provide premises to the practice. The fees it charges must be commercially realistic and supported by a written agreement, and the ATO has published a guide to service entity arrangements. We review existing service arrangements to check that the fees, the agreement and the records still stand up.
We look after barristers from the time they come to the Bar through to retirement. Our work covers:
No. Under rule 12 of the Legal Profession Uniform Conduct (Barristers) Rules 2015, which apply in Western Australia, a barrister must be a sole practitioner and must not practise in partnership, as an employee or employer of legal practitioners, or through an incorporated legal practice. Your fees are earned and taxed in your own name.
That makes the planning around the practice more important: superannuation, the timing of income and deductions, income protection and other insurance, and the structure used to hold your investments outside the practice.
Simon Terry LLB BCom CA is a director of Porters CA and a registered tax agent. His legal training means he reads a partnership deed, a service agreement or a set of conduct rules the way you do. Advice is given with the profession’s regulatory framework in mind, not added as an afterthought.
We are based in South Perth, a short trip from the Perth CBD, with free parking, and we also have an office in Albany for regional practitioners. Much of our work is done remotely through cloud accounting and secure client portals, so meetings can be in person or by video.
Book a free initial consultation with Simon Terry, or call our South Perth office on (08) 6436 0900. For business advice beyond tax, see our business advice page.
This page is general information based on the law as at September 2026. You should seek advice specific to your circumstances.