What Does a Tax Specialist Do? 2024 Career Guide

A tax specialist prepares taxes for clients, assists with tax audits, communicates with state and federal tax agencies, and more. Tax specialists are responsible for knowing accounting principles and tax guidelines to ensure clients comply with laws and regulations. No matter the size, businesses will often rely on tax specialists for complex financial matters.

Decide whether this career is a good fit for you by exploring the job responsibilities, required qualifications, and career pathways for tax specialists. 

What is the role of a tax specialist? 

A tax specialist helps clients throughout the accounting cycle with all tax matters. Tax specialists can serve individuals, businesses, or both. In this role, you can work for an accounting company in the tax division or as an income tax specialist at a tax preparation firm. Or, you can go into business for yourself.

Read more: What Is Business Accounting for Small Businesses—Managing Finances

Tasks and responsibilities of a tax specialist

Knowing more about the daily duties of a tax specialist can help you decide if this career is for you. As a tax specialist, your typical routine tasks and responsibilities might include:

• Gathering financial records from clients

• Preparing state and federal tax returns

• Complying with current state and federal tax laws and regulations

• Explaining state and federal tax laws and regulations to clients

• Providing guidance about tax planning

• Assisting with tax audits

• Maintaining confidentiality with client information

• Making use of tax databases and software

• Corresponding with and arranging meetings with clients and tax officials

What skills benefit a tax specialist? 

As a tax specialist, you can benefit from having particular skills. They include workplace skills, those that affect how you work with others in any job, and technical skills, which help you perform tasks specific to a particular job. 

Workplace skills

Tax specialists work alone and with other people, including clients, colleagues, and federal and state tax officials. Workplace skills that can benefit you as a tax specialist include:

• Attention to detail

• Customer service skills

• Verbal and written communication

• Organizational skills

• Research skills

• Time management

Technical skills

You also need the technical skill set to perform your tasks well. Essential technical skills that can help you as a tax specialist include:

• Accounting skills

• Competency with using accounting and spreadsheet software

• Knowledge of all tax regulations and laws, state, local, and federal

• Proficiency in tax return submission

How to become a tax specialist

A few key qualifications can help you become a tax specialist. These include a bachelor's degree, professional certifications, and previous work experience. 

Step 1: Earn a degree.

Whether you work for an employer or go into business for yourself as a tax specialist, a bachelor's degree can give you the educational foundation you need to be successful. Good majors for a tax specialist include:

• Accounting

• Finance

• Business administration 

Read more: What Is a CPA and How Do I Become One?

Step 2: Get certifications.

Earning professional credentials and certifications can help you stand out from other tax specialists by giving you extra skills and credibility. Plus, having more skills and credibility can improve your workflow and increase your earnings. 

When choosing a certification, you should consider the one that most directly benefits your intended career path. Common certifications for tax specialists include:

• Certified Public Accountant (CPA): Earning this credential says that you have achieved the highest level of competency in accounting. You must become a CPA or an enrolled agent (EA) if you represent clients in cases with the IRS as part of your job duties. When you get this certification, you become licensed to practice as an accountant in your state. To become a CPA, you need to pass a uniform exam offered by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and meet any licensing requirements as set by your state. 

• Enrolled Agent (EA): This credential offered by the IRS comes with a lot of clout because it allows you to represent your clients in any disputes they may have with the IRS. To earn this certification, you’ll take a three-part exam and must stay current on IRS regulations and laws with continuing education. 

Read more: How to Become a Tax Accountant: Your Guide

Step 3: Gain work experience.

Getting work experience can help you move up the career ladder to a tax specialist position. You might start by working as a seasonal tax preparer for an accounting firm or tax preparation company. Or, you might get an accounting or tax preparation internship. To find an internship, visit your college or university's career center, local career fairs, and job websites, or check in at your local job service. 

Read more: How to Get Your First Accounting Entry-Level Job

Salary and job outlook for a tax specialist

As a tax specialist in the US, you can expect to earn an average annual salary of $62,051, according to Glassdoor [1]. If you get bonuses or commissions or participate in a profit-sharing program, you'll have the opportunity to earn even more. Keep in mind that factors that influence your salary include location, industry, years of experience, education level, and certifications earned.

If you get a CPA credential, you can apply for a tax accountant position, which offers an average base salary of $76,006 per year [2]. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects the number of accounting jobs to increase by roughly 4 percent in the decade between 2022 to 2032, which is about average when compared to other occupations [3].

Career pathway for a tax specialist

You have several options for advancing or changing your career after you become a tax specialist. You might remain in accounting but move away from the tax side. In this case, you could transition to a management accounting position to perform financial accounting duties for a specific business. Or, you could move to forensic accounting. This career involves examining financial records to determine if a company is engaging in misconduct.  

If you want to continue working as a tax professional, your career pathway might look like this:

• Tax processor→Tax accountant→Tax specialist→Tax manager

For reference, the annual base salary for a tax consultant averages $76,406 per year, according to Glassdoor, and the annual base salary for a tax manager averages $121,998 [4, 5].

Get started today on Coursera

With your knowledge of tax laws and regulations, as a tax specialist, you will play an important role in tax compliance, computations, financial transactions, and more for your clients. To enter this career, you must earn a degree, pass professional certification exams, and gain experience in entry-level tax positions.

To start this career path, consider taking a beginner-level course on Coursera. Start with Accounting: Principles of Financial Accounting, offered by the IESE Business School. Or, advance your skills and knowledge with an intermediate-level program like the US Federal Taxation Specialization from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. When you finish this Specialization, you'll receive a career certificate to add to your resume or LinkedIn profile.