Workpaper preparation for Australian tax practicesWorkpapers for Australian tax practices
Every figure, traced to its source.
PrepDesk reads your clients’ tax documents and prepares review-ready workpapers. Click any number and the page it came from opens beside it, with the exact line highlighted.
No payment details. We’ll email you when founding firms start.
The problem
Tax time still arrives as a pile.
Agent statements, loan statements, a phone photo of an invoice, the rates notice twice. Someone has to chase it, sort it and key it, and one slipped digit can sit in a return until the ATO finds it.
14 documents4 formats1 duplicate1 missing
Illustration: a scattered pile of one client’s documents. An agent’s annual statement, two home loan statements, a phone photo of a gutter repair invoice, a forwarded email with an attachment, a depreciation schedule, a scanned page with no subject, the same council rates notice twice, and a bank interest statement that is still missing. All names are made up.
Chasing
The same request, three emails in a row. The reply brings a statement, just not the one you asked for.
Keying
Time on every rental, copying figures from PDFs and photos into a spreadsheet, line by line.
The wrong figure
One transposed digit: 5,441.55 keyed as
5,414.55. Nobody sees it until the ATO does.Offshore and the review queue
Sending prep offshore moves client data out of Australia, and every file still queues for the same partner’s review.
How it works
Drop the pile. Review the workpaper.
1Drop
Drop a client’s documents, or a whole folder.
Drag them anywhere on the page: PDF, JPEG, PNG or TIFF, up to 50 MB each, as they came. You don’t have to pick the client first, and a whole season’s folder works too.
2Read
PrepDesk reads every page. Tax file numbers never reach Claude.
Each page is read into text in Sydney (Amazon Textract). Tax file numbers are then found and removed before any text goes to the AI (Claude), and they’re never stored. If removal can’t run, processing stops. Each document is sorted by type and filed to its client group when there’s one clear match. When there isn’t, PrepDesk asks you.
3Review
A workpaper where every figure has its page.
Tax rules and arithmetic are plain code, never AI. Every figure lands on the workpaper linked to the exact line it came from, and anything unusual is flagged with a reason.
Every figure has a source
Click a number. See the line it came from.
Every figure in a PrepDesk workpaper links to the page and line it was read from, highlighted. Press o and the full page opens, tax file numbers already blacked out. A figure with no page behind it carries a written reason instead.
SourceCoastline Realty (sample) annual statement
Income26,780.00
Deductions29,302.44
- Side by side. The workpaper on one side, the source page on the other, the figure highlighted.
- The full page in one key. Fit width, 100%, 150% or 200%, with the same highlight.
- Redacted pages only. The original upload is deleted once the redacted pages are stored.
Only what needs you
The workpaper leads with what needs a person.
Lines that match their source are marked high confidence. Flagged lines come with a reason in a sentence or two and a suggestion you can accept, change or query. Tax judgements, like whether a cost is a repair or an improvement, stay with you.
- Checks you can see: agrees to the agent statement, covers the full year, interest agrees to the loan statements.
- Flags with reasons: possible capital, loan purpose, timing, duplicate.
- Suggestions, never decisions. Nothing counts as reviewed until a person says so. “Approve all” covers only high-confidence lines with no open items.
A rental workpaper for 12 Brookes Rd with 42 lines. 39 lines match their source and are marked high confidence. Three lines are lifted out, each with a reason: a gutter repair invoice that says “Replace damaged gutter section”, flagged as possible capital; a water bill issued after year end, flagged for timing; and interest on a second loan, flagged for loan purpose. The reviewer presses “Approve all”, which approves the 39 high-confidence lines and leaves the 3 flagged lines for a person. All names are made up.
Review at keyboard speed
Decide, query and sign off without reaching for the mouse.
The reviewer’s time is where the day goes. Move between flagged lines, decide each one and sign off from the keyboard. Every decision is recorded with who made it, when and why.
Edits and exclusions need a written reason. Sign-off only unlocks once every flagged item is decided.
A rental workpaper for Daniel Harlow, 12 Brookes Rd, with three flagged lines. The reviewer presses j to move to each one: a gutter repair flagged as possible capital is accepted as a repair with a; a second loan flagged for loan purpose gets a query to the client with q, which waits for approval before it is sent; and a water bill issued after year end is excluded with x and a typed reason. Then s signs the workpaper off. All names are made up.
- jnext flagged
- kprevious
- aaccept
- eedit
- qquery
- xexclude
- oopen page
- ssign off
- nnext workpaper
Get the documents in
Ask once. Let the documents find their way back.
Request exactly what’s missing, from one client or many. Clients upload from a link on their phone, and reminders are drafted for you to approve.
- Upload links. No client account or password. Each item ticks off as it arrives.
- A forwarding address for every client group, so emailed documents land in the right place.
- Outlook and Gmail. PrepDesk checks who sent each new email and keeps only those with attachments from your client contacts. Nothing is filed until you pick it.
- Xero Practice Manager. Bring your client list across instead of typing it.
Daniel Harlow opens his secure upload link on his phone and uploads a photo of a water bill. It arrives in the firm’s incoming documents for Harlow Family Group, filed against the water bills request. An email sent to the group’s own forwarding address is filed there too, and an email that matches no single client waits for a person. Outlook, Gmail and Xero Practice Manager are shown as sources, with Outlook connected. All names and addresses are made up.
Gmail
Xero Practice ManagerQueries and answers
Client questions drafted for you. Sent only when you approve.
When a line needs the client, PrepDesk drafts the email; you edit it and approve it. Client emails never give advice and never quote figures. And when you need a number, just ask.
Queries
Drafted from the flag, checked before it goes, and the reply comes back to the line.
PrepDesk drafts an email to Daniel Harlow asking what the second loan on 12 Brookes Rd, ending 4488, was used for. It has no figures and no advice. Jess Tran approves it and it is sent. Daniel opens it on his phone, answers through the secure reply link that it paid for the new kitchen and bathroom, and his reply is filed as a note on the loan interest line for Jess to read before she resolves the query. All names are made up.
Ask PrepDesk
Answers come only from your stored workpapers, with sources. Ask for a judgement and it tells you it’s your firm’s call.
Asked for the net rental loss on 12 Brookes Rd, PrepDesk answers from the workpaper with its sources and a warning that the workpaper is not signed off yet.
Out to your template
Your template, filled in. Drafts marked as drafts.
Export into your firm’s own Excel template, or take PrepDesk’s standard workbook, a PDF binder with the highlighted source pages, a keying sheet or CSV. Anything not signed off is stamped DRAFT, NOT REVIEWED on every page, tab and sheet.
- Every figure carries its source into the export.
- Sign-off is recorded with who and when, and the next export comes out clean.
- Rental rows follow the order of the ATO rental schedule.
- Your firm’s Excel templateUpload it once and map it; exports fill the mapped cells.
- PrepDesk standard ExcelOne workbook, a tab per workpaper, with totals, checks and the source register.
- PDF binderA contents page, each workpaper and its highlighted source pages.
- Keying sheetEvery figure in ATO rental schedule order, with copy buttons.
- CSV dataEvery figure and its source, for your own tools.
Security and responsibility
The short version.
Your clients’ tax documents deserve more care than a promo page. Here is what we do, in plain words, and what we don’t claim.
Tax file numbers out before Claude
Pages are read into text first (Amazon Textract, in Sydney). Tax file numbers are then removed before the text goes to the AI (Claude), and are never stored, logged or exported. If removal can’t run, processing stops.
Stored in Sydney, run in Australia
Documents, workpapers and every record are stored in Sydney. The AI that reads documents runs in Australia, through Amazon Bedrock’s Australian profile (Sydney or Melbourne).
Document text only, to Claude in Australia
Claude on Amazon Bedrock, through its Australian profile, reads page text with tax file numbers already removed. No page images are sent, nothing is used to train AI, and tax rules and arithmetic are plain code.
Every change on the record
Edits, decisions and exports are kept in an audit trail with who, when and why. Entries can be added, never changed.
Two-step sign-in, always
Everyone signs in with a password and an authenticator-app code. Sessions end after 30 minutes idle.
Walled off, firm by firm
The database itself keeps each firm’s records apart, and files are encrypted with a key for your firm. Our staff can look only when you approve, read-only, for up to 72 hours, on the record.
A person signs off. PrepDesk prepares suggestions; your registered tax agent reviews, decides and lodges. We don’t hold security certifications yet, and we won’t show a badge until we do.
Read how we look after your clients’ dataPlanned pricing
Pay per workpaper. Every feature, unlimited users.
Month to month, no contract. Change plan as the season changes, or pay the same every month with Level and save 15%.
- Starter20 a month20 to 55 a monthA$199a monthfromA$169a monthA$9.95a workpaperA$8.46a workpaper
Extra workpapersA$13.90
- Growth60 a month60 to 145 a monthA$490a monthfromA$416a monthA$8.17a workpaperA$6.94a workpaper
Extra workpapersA$11.40
- Professional150 a month150 to 395 a monthA$1,090a monthfromA$927a monthA$7.27a workpaperA$6.18a workpaper
Extra workpapersA$10.20
- Scale400 a month400 or more a monthA$2,590a monthfromA$2,204a monthA$6.48a workpaperA$5.51a workpaper
Extra workpapersA$9.10
- Every feature
- Unlimited users
- Month to month, no contract
- A monthly overage cap your admin sets
- Unused workpapers roll over a monthUnused workpapers banked, price locked 12 months
- More than 400 a month?We’ll quote a custom plan. Get in touch.
- Quiet months: Hold, A$49 a monthKeeps clients, history, carry-forwards and intake alive. Any workpaper is A$14.90.
- Going over is cappedBy default, overage never costs more than the next plan up: with “switch when cheaper” on, you move up instead, pro rata.
Founding firms get early pricing.These are the prices PrepDesk plans to open with. Join the waitlist and we’ll email you when founding firms start.
Join the waitlistPrices in Australian dollars. No GST is charged: PrepDesk isn’t registered for GST yet.
Savings calculator
EstimatePrepDesk is built to cut preparation time by around 30–40 minutes per workpaper. Put in your own numbers.
What an hour of the preparer’s time costs you, including on-costs. Up to A$500.
Rentals, individual deductions and return summaries. A rental counts once per property. Up to 10,000.
Time saved
233 h
a year
Value of that time
A$14,000
a year
PrepDesk, suggested plan
A$3,550
a year on Level
On these numbers, the time saved is worth about A$10,450 a year more than PrepDesk costs.
An estimate from your inputs, not a measured result. Prices are planned and may change before launch. Seasonal is shown on one plan all year, with extra workpapers where that’s cheaper than the next plan up. Hold (A$49 a month plus A$14.90 a workpaper, for quiet months) isn’t modelled. No GST is charged.
Proof, so far
Measured before anyone relies on it.
We test PrepDesk’s checks against an accuracy harness: sample documents with known answers, including deliberately misread figures, to see whether each mistake is caught. These are its numbers today, tested on sample documents. Real-firm results come after the pilot, and we’ll publish them as they are.
97.3%
of figures correct with no edit
Tested on sample documents, not a customer result
0%
silent errors: no wrong figure went through without a flag
Tested on sample documents, not a customer result
100%
of figures linked to a source page or a written reason
Tested on sample documents, not a customer result
How this was measured. From PrepDesk’s accuracy harness, 24 September 2026: 14 packs of made-up rental and individual documents run through the full pipeline, with misreads deliberately injected into the reading step. The reading step is simulated from answer keys, so these figures test PrepDesk’s checks and flags, not live AI reading. Not a customer result.
Built and hosted in Australia
Designed and built in Australia for Australian practices. Hosted in Sydney, with the AI that reads documents running in Australia. Priced in Australian dollars, per workpaper.
Where is my clients’ data stored?
In Australia. Documents, workpapers and every record are stored in Sydney. The AI that reads documents (Claude, through Amazon Bedrock’s Australian profile) runs in Australia too, in Sydney or Melbourne.
What does the AI (Claude) actually see?
Text only, never page images. Each page is first read into text (by Amazon Textract, in Sydney); tax file numbers are then found and removed before the text goes to the AI (Claude). If removal can’t run, processing stops. The AI sorts documents and finds figures; the tax rules and arithmetic are plain code. Your data is never used to train AI models.
Who is responsible for the return?
You are. PrepDesk prepares workpapers for your review; its output is always a suggestion. Your registered tax agent reviews, decides and lodges. PrepDesk doesn’t give tax advice and doesn’t lodge anything with the ATO. Anything exported before sign-off is marked DRAFT, NOT REVIEWED.
Which workpapers does PrepDesk prepare?
Rental properties, individual deductions and individual return summaries. Company, trust and BAS workpapers aren’t in the first version.
Will it fit our Excel template?
Yes. An admin uploads your template once and maps it, and exports fill the mapped cells. There’s also a standard workbook, a PDF binder with highlighted source pages, a keying sheet and CSV.
Do my clients need an account?
No. They get a secure upload link that works on a phone and lists exactly what you asked for. Client emails are drafted by PrepDesk and sent only when someone at your firm approves them.
When can we start?
PrepDesk opens to founding firms first. Join the waitlist and we’ll email you when founding firms start. There are no payment details to give, and founding firms get early pricing.
What happens if we cancel?
Cancel in the app at any time. Access continues to the end of the paid month; then you have 30 days to export everything, after which your firm’s data is permanently deleted and we confirm it in writing. See Refunds and cancellations.
Do you charge GST?
Not at the moment. PrepDesk isn’t registered for GST yet, so no GST is charged on your plan.
Ready when you are
Your next rental, traced to the page.
PrepDesk opens to founding firms first, and founding firms get early pricing. Leave your details below.
Rather talk first? Book a demo
No payment details. We’ll email you when founding firms start.