Tax Accountant Resume Sample
Leonard B. Mueller
Address: 7458 Archwood Avenue, San Diego, CA.
Phone: (619) 224 6547
Email: [email protected]
Current Job: Princeville Accounting Services; San Diego, CA
Objective
Certified Public Accountant with a primary specialization in Tax Accounting seeks to establish a career with Pinebook, Wyndgard, and Associates Accounting Firm. I have 4 years of experience as a Tax Accountant, knowledgeable in QuickBooks and TurboTax, and have handled the tax requirements of real estate companies that account for the majority of your clients.
Strengths
- Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting
- Certified Public Accountant
- Knowledgeable in accounting software
- Proficient in Financial Analysis
- Competent in tax laws
- Excellent communication skills
- Creative thinker; problem-solver
- A meticulous approach to work
- Client-oriented
Work Experience
Tax Accountant; 2018 to Present
Princeville Accounting Services; San Diego, CA
Responsibilities:
- Assigned to manage and oversee the tax requirements of the company’s clients in the following industries: Real estate, finance, and retail.
- Analyze the client’s financial statements; verify the information by reviewing all pertinent supporting documents.
- Conduct interviews with the different departments of the client’s company; perform a management audit on how each department managed their allotted budgets/
- Review the financial statements and check if the entries and actions are in accordance with local tax laws and regulations.
- Calculate the correct taxes to be paid by the client.
- Discuss the findings of the financial audit with the main decision-makers.
- Develop strategies on how to create and manage a budget that would help the company reduce tax payments, generate savings, and finance growth strategies, that are all in adherence with current tax laws.
Tax Accountant, 2017 to 2018
Business RX, Inc; San Diego, CA
Responsibilities:
- Business RX is a consultancy company that offers outsourcing services to SMEs to reduce the cost of running a business.
- Assigned to handle the accounting requirements of clients with the special focus of attention to their tax needs. .
- Review and analyze the client’s financial statements and prepare a set of recommendations for financial management and payment of taxes.
- Provide assistance to companies that had outstanding tax obligations; negotiate on their behalf with the local tax collection agency for the purpose of coming up with a viable payment schedule.
- Counsel companies on how to keep their financial records organized.
- Calculate the correct taxes payable and ensure prompt payment.
Certifications:
Licensed by the State of California as a Certified Public Accountant in 2016.
Education:
College
Bachelor Degree – Accounting
San Diego Mesa College
San Diego, CA
2011 to 2015
High School
Bernardo High School
San Diego, CA
2007 to 2011
How To Write A Good Tax Accountant Resume
A good Tax Accountant resume is one that presents your skills and experience clearly and in an organized manner. The recruiter won’t have problems assessing your qualifications for the job.
Do you think you have a good Tax Accountant resume? Follow our tips below to be sure.
Use the Reverse-Chronological Format
If you have at least 2 years of work experience, use the reverse-chronological format for your resume.
The structure of the reverse-chronological format is as follows:
- Contact Information
- Objective Statement or Career Summary
- Strengths/Skills
- Work Experience
- Education
- Certifications/Licenses
You’ll notice that the work experience section is located in the middle of the resume. It’s “book-ended” by sections that add substance to your experience as a Tax Accountant.
With this type of format, the spotlight is on your work experience. We’ll teach how to write an effective work experience section in the chapter “Tax Accountant Duties And Responsibilities For The Work Experience Section”.
As the term implies, when using the reverse-chronological format, you begin the work experience section by sharing your duties and responsibilities in your current job or most recent employment. From there, work your way back to your earliest experience as a Tax Accountant.
Recruiters love this format because they can assess your current level of experience. However, you must have at least 2 years of work experience without any unemployment gap exceeding 4 months.
Career Summary or Objective Statement?
If you’ve been a Tax Accountant for more than 10 years, use the Career Summary instead of the Objective Summary because it showcases your achievements in the profession.
What’s the difference?
Here’s an example of a Career Objective:
“Certified Public Accountant with more than 10 years of experience as a Tax Accountant. Managed the finances and handled the tax requirements of more than 100 top 500 corporations. Presently, I’m managing the portfolio of 30 corporations at Willem and Sons Accounting. Collectively, I’ve helped these corporations save more than US$330 Million through accurate tax accounting and reporting.”
In comparison, here’s an Objective Statement:
“Certified Public Accountant with more than 2 years of work experience as a Tax Accountant for a food manufacturing company. I’m interested in joining your team of Tax Accountants at Carver-Johnson Accounting. I’m currently in my second and final year of an MBA program. I am confident that my dedication and meticulous approach to work will greatly contribute to the continued success of your company.”
The Career Objective is punctuated with numbers that define the career of the applicant. The purpose is to convince the recruiter that you are highly qualified for this position – a Tax Accountant who has proven his worth in the past 10 years.
With the Objective Statement, you are stating the reason why you are applying for the position and citing the strengths or skills that make you the ideal candidate. This is more ideal for a less-experienced applicant with fewer years under his belt and still growing as a Tax Accountant.
Highlight Your Education Section
As a Tax Accountant, you’ll have a bigger advantage over other applicants if you’ve attained a higher level of education.
If you have a Master’s Degree in Business – even if you’re still in the process of completing the degree – include the information in the Education section of your resume.
Did you take advanced courses in Tax Accounting? Share the information under the heading “Certification Courses” or “Additional Training”.
You should also include information about the seminars you attended especially about updates on tax laws and regulations.
No Errors in Spelling and Grammar
A Tax Accountant has to be meticulous in his approach to work. The wrong decimal point could lead to thousands or millions of dollars worth of losses.
So if your resume has errors in spelling and grammar, it shows you’re not meticulous in your approach to work and you might be considered by the recruiter as irresponsible.
Similar to financial statements run a spelling and grammar “audit” on your resume. You should also run it under a spelling and grammar software program to be sure.
Tax Accountant Skills List
Tax accounting requires a different set of skills than other types of accounting. The obvious being having a comprehensive understanding of tax accounting principles, methods, laws, and regulations.
Every person who wants to have a career as a Tax Accountant will study the necessary courses and acquire the hard or technical skills to become competent in the profession.
In a level playing field, the difference-maker might be the soft skills – or the personality attributes that define your behavior and approach to the job.
Here is a list of Tax Accountant skills – hard and soft – that should be seen by the recruiter in your resume.
Education
To become skilled in Accounting, you must be well-entrenched in the basics or fundamentals of Accounting.
Although there are accountants who took a different college major such as Economics or Business Administration, more employers prefer those with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting.
You have to read the job ad carefully. Some employers might prefer a Tax Accountant with a Master’s of Business Administration.
Knowledge of Tax Systems and Processes
A Tax Accountant uses his knowledge of the tax system and its processes to help businesses minimize tax payments without violating existing tax laws. The Tax Accountant also wants to make sure that any audit done with the local tax agency is done smoothly and without issue.
You will spend hours perusing multiple documents from invoices to receipts to Purchase Orders in order to determine taxable income. You have to be aware of what accounts can be considered as deductible expenses.
Tax Accountants are generally at their busiest months before income taxes are filed with tax authorities.
Knowledge of Accounting Software
It’s not enough to be proficient with MS Excel. As a Tax Accountant learning software programs that are specific to tax accounting are must-have hard skills on your resume.
QuickBooks and FreshBooks are popular accounting software programs but the recruiter will be more impressed if you are adept at tax accounting-specific programs such as TurboTax, TaxSlayer, and H&R Block.
Knowledge of Tax Laws and Regulations
Don’t be surprised if some of the applicants competing for the Tax Accounting position took extra credits in college to learn about Tax Law and Public Finance.
You don’t have to be a law undergraduate to become effective as a Tax Accountant. However, you should be very familiar with the latest tax laws, requirements, and regulations.
The tax laws in your state or city might change frequently. You have to stay on top of business news and keep yourself updated on amendments to the existing tax laws.
Communication
To the average person, taxation sounds like a foreign language. Many business owners and executives don’t have the bandwidth to understand how taxes work.
As the expert, you have to explain to them how the current tax laws and regulations have influenced the amount of taxes that you have to pay. Your explanation to them must be clear and well-articulated that a Grade 6 student can understand you correctly.
Time-Management
A typical day can see your plate full with different tasks, duties, and responsibilities – especially when the tax collection month is near.
Having excellent time management skills is a must for a Tax Accountant to be effective. Learn how to prioritize your tasks and manage deadlines.
There will be days where you will have to balance high-level tasks with social functions such as attending conventions, networking events, and meetings with important clients.
Attention to Detail
As we mentioned earlier, one of the most important qualities of a Tax Accountant is having a keen attention to detail. There are no such things as big and small mistakes in Tax Accounting. Even the littlest mistake can lead to costly consequences.
A good Tax Accountant exercises caution and takes a meticulous approach. You have to review your numbers carefully. Your review of a company’s financial statements might become the basis for the decision.
As the saying goes. “Strategy follows numbers.”
If your numbers are wrong, the company might find itself owing to the government more money than the business has ever made in its life.
Tax Accountant Duties And Responsibilities For The Work Experience Section
How well do you know the job of a Tax Accountant? That’s the question in the minds of recruiters when they review the Tax Accountant duties and responsibilities listed in the work experience section.
You can categorize the job of a Tax Accountant into 6 types of duties and responsibilities:
- Analyze Financial Statements – A company’s financial statements give the Tax Accountant a better understanding of its financial position; how income is earned and spent.
The information detailed in the financial statements will tell the Tax Accountant if operations have been aligned with current tax laws and regulations.
- Develop Budget Strategies – After an audit of the financials and an accurate calculation of total taxes payable have been made, a Tax Accountant will help the business develop a strategy for creating and managing a budget for the company.
The job of a Tax Accountant is also to find ways for the business to manage its finances wisely.
- Organize Finances – Without a Tax Accountant, a company’s financial records can be in disarray. A Tax Accountant is hired to make sure all documents, receipts, and statements are organized and easily found.
- Audit Accounting Systems – A Tax Accountant doesn’t just audit your financial statements. He also audits your current accounting system to make sure it conforms to the guidelines of the tax collection agency and local tax laws.
- Educate, Orient, and Inform Clients – A Tax Accountant also has the responsibility of educating, orienting, and informing his clients about how the business has been managing its finances, any changes introduced in the accounting system, and how to improve financial management.
- Calculating the Right Taxes – Of course, the basic duty and responsibility of the Tax Accountant is to calculate the right taxes to be paid by the business.
Now that you have an idea of a Tax Accountant’s main duties and responsibilities, it must be easier to create effective job descriptions for your work experience section.
- Your job descriptions in the work experience section must show at least 1 example of a task you managed per category.
- Substantiate your job description with numbers.
- Add information that makes each work experience unique from one another.
- Keep your job descriptions short.
- Keep the tone simple and conversational; don’t try to be technical for the purpose of impressing the recruiter.
- Include achievements or milestones in your career.
You can review our work experience section at the sample resume for a Tax Accountant.
Here’s a rundown of duties and responsibilities that you can use for your work experience section. Make them unique to your own by following our aforementioned 6 tips.
- Analyze the client’s financial statements.
- Review the client’s tax history.
- Interview representatives from the company’s various departments.
- Organize the company’s financial records.
- Analyze the existing accounting system.
- Give recommendations on improving the current accounting system.
- Prepare a Tax Accountant report for the business owner.
- Calculate the correct taxes payable.
- Identify ways to save more money.
Entry-Level Tax Accountant Resume
Are you at a disadvantage against more experienced applicants if you have an entry-level Tax Accountant? For sure, experience counts. However, many companies prefer entry-level Tax Accountants because they can learn the financial system with a fresh mind.
Tax accountants with years under their belt tend to get stuck in their ways. With newer tax accountants eager to cut their teeth in the business, they can be indoctrinated into the ways of the company.
So how do you write an entry-level Tax Accountant resume that will pass the recruiter’s review?
Use the Combination Format
If you have years of work experience as an accountant and have decided to specialize in Tax Accounting, use the combination format for your resume.
What are the advantages of the combination format?
Highlights your skills and strongest qualifications
Allows you to present an extensive work history
The structure of the combination format is as follows:
- Contact Information
- Objective Statement
- Career Summary
- Skills/Strengths
- Certifications/Licenses
- Education
- Work Experience
As you can see, a resume that uses the combination format is very heavy upfront. The sections preceding “Work Experience” validate your qualifications; the skills and abilities you possess that make you an ideal candidate for the position.
Write a Compelling Objective Statement – and an Enticing Career Summary
In the chapter, “How To Write A Good Tax Accountant Resume”, we suggested that you choose between including an Objective Statement or a Career Summary. However, for the combination format, it’s a smart idea to include both.
The Objective Statement is your sales pitch to the recruiter, “What I can bring to your company as a Tax Accountant and why I’m applying for this position.”
The Career Summary showcases the achievements that you’ve done as an Accountant.
Including an objective statement and a career summary will give the recruiter a better vantage point to assess your qualifications and if you’re a good fit for the company.
Join Associations and Organizations for Accountants
Before applying for your first job, whether as an accountant or a Tax Accountant, look for Accounting associations and organizations that you can join.
First, becoming a member of an Accounting association looks good on your resume. Second, if a top-level manager or the owner of the company is a member of the same organization, your membership may give your resume plus points.
Finally, joining associations makes it easy and convenient to network with people in the industry. You can get leads to good, well-paying jobs or have a reference to include in the cover letter of your resume.
If the job market is slow, you might meet someone in the association who can refer you directly to a company that prefers entry-level Tax Accountants.
