Tax accountant CV

Tax accountants prepare tax returns, keep businesses or individuals compliant with HMRC, and advise on how to structure affairs efficiently within the rules. Roles split broadly between practice (working for an accountancy firm with many clients) and in-house (working for one company's tax team), and between business tax, personal tax and indirect tax such as VAT. Make your specialism obvious from the first line of your CV.

What employers look for

• Technical knowledge. Corporation tax, personal tax, VAT, employment taxes or international tax, depending on the role.
• Compliance delivery. Accurate returns and computations filed on time.
• Advisory experience. Planning, reliefs, restructuring, transactions, for more senior roles.
• Client or stakeholder management. A client portfolio in practice; finance and business teams in-house.
• Qualifications. CTA (Chartered Tax Adviser) is the main specialist qualification; ATT for technicians. ACA or ACCA with a tax focus is also common.
• Software. CCH, IRIS, Alphatax, TaxCalc, Xero Tax and similar.

Keywords from tax adverts

• Corporation tax computations and returns, CT600
• Personal tax, self-assessment, SA100, trusts and estates
• VAT returns, VAT advice, Making Tax Digital, partial exemption
• R&D tax credits, capital allowances, group relief
• Employment taxes, PAYE, P11D, PSAs
• Tax provisions, deferred tax, tax accounting (in-house)
• Transfer pricing, international tax (larger groups)
• HMRC enquiries, correspondence, compliance
• CTA, ATT, ACA, ACCA
• CCH, IRIS, Alphatax, TaxCalc

A typical advert, decoded

A paraphrased example of what tax accountant adverts usually say, and what each line is really asking for.

The advert says	What it really means
"Manage a portfolio of business and personal tax clients"	A practice role. State the portfolio size and type.
"Corporation tax computations and returns"	Core compliance work. Name the software you've used.
"R&D tax credit claims"	A growing area. Mention claims you've prepared.
"Studying CTA or ATT"	They'll support study. List the papers you've passed.
"Deal with HMRC enquiries"	Show any enquiries you've handled and how they ended.

Example CV profile

ATT-qualified tax accountant studying CTA, with four years in a regional practice. I manage a portfolio of 120 owner-managed business and personal tax clients, preparing corporation tax computations, self-assessment returns and R&D tax credit claims in CCH. I've grown our R&D claims work from 5 to 25 clients a year.

Example achievements

Use your own figures.

• Managed a portfolio of 120 corporate and personal tax clients with every return filed on time for three years.
• Prepared 25 R&D tax credit claims a year, securing around £1.1m of relief for clients with no HMRC enquiries upheld.
• Handled an HMRC enquiry into a client's capital allowances claim, closed with no adjustment.
• Reviewed and corrected VAT partial exemption calculations for a charity client, recovering £60k of overpaid VAT.
• Prepared the quarterly tax provision and deferred tax calculations for an in-house group finance team.
• Trained two junior colleagues on corporation tax computations.

Common mistakes

• Not stating your tax area. "Tax accountant" alone is too broad. Say business tax, personal tax, VAT or employment tax.
• Vague qualification status. CTA papers passed matter. List them.
• No portfolio size. Number and type of clients shows your experience quickly.
• Advisory claims without examples. If you've advised, give a specific type of planning you've worked on.

Interview questions to prepare for

• Talk me through a corporation tax computation from the accounts.
• What reliefs might be available to a growing company investing in new equipment?
• Tell me about an HMRC enquiry you've handled.

See all 12 tax accountant interview questions, with why interviewers ask each one and what a strong answer covers.