Tax advisor

Where finance, law and accounting meet, you’ll find tax advisors. Specialist legal experts, they know tax law like the back of their hand and can help you fill in your tax return in the blink of an eye.

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What tasks are tax assistants charged with? 

Tax assistants usually work in a company, consulting firm or for freelance tax advisors. Your area of responsibility includes various tax-related activities, both to support tax advisors and as part of your own work. Your responsibilities may include, for example, advising and supporting corporate clients, preparing tax returns, annual financial statements and online balance sheets for them and forwarding collected data to HMRC. To do this, you conduct research, obtain the necessary information and documents and perform data entry using special tax software. In addition, you'll take on tax planning activities, for example as part of restructuring activities or start-ups.

Fun fact

Before income tax was introduced, knowing who should be taxed and how much was tough! In 1696, England decided on a fool-proof method: by counting windows. Because the more windows in a house, the more wealthy the occupants, right? In more upmarket neighbourhoods, some residents even installed fake windows or just painted them on to give the impression they were part of high society. But in poorer areas, landlords began boarding and bricking windows up so they could get away with paying less tax. The result? Due to the lack of natural light and ventilation, rickets and tuberculosis tore through poorer populations and it wasn’t until 1851 that the government finally abolished the tax.

Skills

Hard skills

  • Accounting
  • Civil law
  • Commercial law
  • Conduct financial audits
  • Fraud detection

Soft skills

  • Self-organization
  • Self-management
  • Evaluation

What skills do you need to become a tax assistant? 

To be successful on your career path as a tax assistant, you'll need detailed knowledge of tax law and be willing to keep your knowledge in this area up to date. For this reason, tax assistants often specialise in certain aspects of tax. An above-average grasp of maths is also important as you'll be dealing with numbers and balance sheets on a regular basis. In addition, knowledge of Microsoft Office programmes as well as special tax and accounting software is indispensable in everyday work. 

As a tax assistant, you need to be very careful and precise in your work, as failure to correctly record or transfer of data can have legal consequences. Since you'll be in contact with clients, a professional appearance and excellent communication skills are an absolute must. Analytical and entrepreneurial thinking skills also help when planning to optimise tax.  

Qualifications needed to become a tax assistant 

There are many ways to become a tax assistant. A vocational or specialist qualification in a related subject, such as accountancy, finance, business, maths or law is a good place to start. However, formal education is not necessary in many cases. You can also start working in tax through an apprenticeship or by working your way up in a company. Many tax assistants also study alongside their work to become a tax advisor, accountant or similar. 

What can a tax assistant earn?  

As an entry-level position within the wider range of tax-related jobs, salaries for tax assistants start at around £22,000. However, this can be higher depending on the level of prior experience, specialisation, amount of responsibility, location and company. There are also plenty of opportunities to climb up the career ladder as a tax assistant. Once you're more established, the average salary for a tax assistant is £27,000 to £33,000. 

Find a job as a tax assistant now on JobTeaser and start a successful career in the challenging field of tax consultancy.

Salary information from nationalcareers.service.gov.uk, glassdoor.co.uk and uk.indeed.com 

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