A Tax Accountant, or Tax CPA, is a finance professional responsible for helping individuals and organizations file their taxes appropriately while following legal guidelines and obtaining the maximum possible tax return. Their duties include collecting tax forms and tracking client paperwork, identifying potential tax credits and producing tax reports.
A Tax Accountant should be able to fulfill various duties and responsibilities. The following are some duties and responsibilities a Tax Accountant should be able to execute:
- Prepare tax provisions schedules, returns, payments, reports and maintain a company’s tax database
- Find tax solutions to complicated tax issues or errors from incorrect tax filings
- Identify legal tax savings and recommend ways to improve profits
- Make sure that clients comply with federal, state and local tax regulations
- Advise management about the impact of tax liabilities and corporate strategies or new tax laws
- Accurately prepare quarterly and annual tax reports
A competitive Tax Accountant will have certain skills and qualifications, including:
- Good communication skills: A Tax Accountant must be able to explain complex tax regulations in a simple and clear way to non-specialists so that they can understand easily.
- Numeracy: Although a Tax Accountant does not need to be a math genius, he or she will be working with numbers, and thus needs to be comfortable with numbers.
- Time management: Being a Tax Accountant means that there are specific deadlines that need to be met. A Tax Accountant must be able to prioritize tasks and take responsibility for a professional workload.
- Problem-solving skills: A great Tax Accountant must be able to solve issues and be creative in their thinking. For example, a Tax Accountant may need to reduce the amount of tax a client pays, it’s up to the Tax Accountant to know which tools are available and find a clever solution using tools like trusts and tax-free investments.
- Attention to detail: The regulations in the tax law mean exactly what they say, a Tax Accountant must pay attention to each word in the law.
- Well-organized: During their career, a Tax Accountant will face many complex issues and tasks, thus, being well-organized and able to work through them methodically is an essential skill.
