Top 7 Tax Accountant Skills to be Best on the Job

Top 7 Tax Accountant Skills to be Best on the Job

If you work as a tax accountant, you will need to possess certain skills and qualities to be able to perform your duties and responsibilities effectively.

This post will show them to you, but for now let’s see what the tax accountant job entails.

What Does a Tax Accountant Do?

The tax accountant job involves preparation of tax payments, estimation and tracking of tax returns, and completion of quarterly and annual tax reports.

It also entails recommending tax strategies that meet company’s business goals; organizing and updating company’s tax database; and preparing necessary paperwork for tax returns and payments.

The tax accountant responsibilities also involve sharing financial data with the accounting department, identifying tax savings, and suggesting ways to increase profits.

Now here are major skills and qualities you need to develop to be best on your job as a tax accountant:

7 Skills and Qualities you need to be Effective as a Tax Accountant

1. Organization

Tax accountants need to be well organized and perform their tasks without delays or errors that can develop into serious issues such as unpaid tax obligations, which can result in penalties.

Since tax accountants constantly deal with large and complex tasks, they need to be able to break them down into sections that they can tackle methodically.

For you to maintain copies of receipts, statements, and other financial records for easy retrieval, you need a high degree of organization to achieve that.

During tax preparation, you may go through disorganized files for clients or employers, but you can equally organize them in a way that allows for tax filing and record maintenance.

2. Attention to Detail

You need to pay attention to every word in working with tax law and not overlook certain terms that might seem unimportant.

If you keep making simple mistakes often, you will end up with unsatisfied clients, and your work will be full of errors and taken unserious. Certainly, your company wouldn’t like this.

Some tax accountants can only work for a short period, while some others are energetic and have the ability to stay alert for eight hours each day.

Therefore, you should put in everything that can enable you to fully concentrate on your job and stay detail-oriented for the whole of your work day.

Accuracy is what will differentiate you from other tax accountants. You can be called to troubleshoot messy situations and assess what is out of place or inaccurate.

What you need in this situation is the ability to give the desired result by taking the time to analyze the issues that might have caused the problem.

3. Communication

You will make a good tax accountant if you develop your communications skills. This will help you to be able to speak with customers in a professional and friendly manner.

You need social and interpersonal skills to be able to negotiate issues well with the State tax agencies on behalf of your clients and present information in a logical manner.

Furthermore, you need to explain complicated issues in easily understood terms and use persuasion and interpersonal skills to garnish your communication.

You need to also be good at written communication as you will have to write complaints and responses to lawsuits; and additionally be able to listen attentively in order to hear what somebody is saying, not interrupting, but asking relevant questions.

The reason you need to communicate in a concise, effective, and clearer way is to make your tax clients feel comfortable.

4. Credibility

Your credibility could come in the form of education or certification, but make sure you stay current with their requirements.

You should also know that strong technical knowledge in all Federal, State, local, and international tax laws, is significant.

Another important thing that will increase your credibility is when you refresh your knowledge on relevant tax laws and regulations on at least a weekly basis.

There were over 50,000 changes in regulatory and compliance laws last year, which makes it important that you constantly update your knowledge of tax laws.

Your tax accounting skills must be up to date and you should be the one everybody relies on for information concerning tax accounting.

Your credibility can be seen when you work under a licensed company that is recognized by the relevant authorities.

5. Personable Skills

Another important skill you need to be a good tax accountant is the ability to convince strangers to trust you with their most personal secret like their finances.

To achieve this, you need to be as personable and humorous as you can.

By forming a true connection with people, you are building a long lasting relationship.

They will trust you once you show them that they can, and that will increase your credibility.

You need to also make decisions that are in the best interest of your client by getting to know them from a strategic point of view.

Know what type of business your client is doing, what their goals are, and what accounting tricks are most suitable to their needs.

6. Problem Solving

The tax accountant job requires that you solve a wide range of problems for your clients, and this can be achieved by thinking critically.

In Tax, you often need to get creative. A good example is when you want to reduce the tax a client pays; you could recommend a huge range of tools, such as trusts and tax-free investments.

It’s up to you to find a quick solution.

You should always have this mindset that you’ll be given tasks and problems to solve, and you’ll be watched as you work. Think carefully, take your time and be creative.

7. Creativity

Creativity will help you to come up with fresh solutions, but you need to first of all think out of the box.

Most times, client problems require special attention and certain amount of creativity, which is a must-have for successful tax professionals.

When attempting to solve various problems for clients, you will need to come up with new, fresh, and advance ideas, and also employ creative strategies.

Tax Accountant Skills for Resume

If you are making a resume for a tax accountant job, you can make a strong core competence or skills section by using the skills above if they describe you.

Recruiters for the tax accountant position typically desire that individuals  seeking the position should have the above skills to be effective in performing the duties and responsibilities of the tax accountant position.

Conclusion

You must love research, have high ethical standards and a healthy interest in the law if you want to become a successful tax accountant.
There is more to tax than just applying numbers to tax forms; you will be required to apply abstract concepts to paint a clear and concise picture for your clients.

You can apply the skills and qualities highlighted in this post to improve your work performance and increase your chances of becoming the best tax accountant in the industry.