Tax Accountant Resume Sample & Guide [20+ Tips]

Tax Accountant Resume Sample

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Sample Tax Accountant Resume—See more templates and create your resume here.

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Here’s how to write a tax accountant resume that proves you’re a vital asset:

1. Choose the Best Format for Your Tax Accountant Resume

Tax accountants manage tax obligations of companies and individuals, prepare tax documentation and assist clients in taxation audits. Your tax accountant resume needs to prove that you can deal with complex calculations, short deadlines, and tax law twists and turns.

To make your resume reflect all the above—

Use the best resume format.

A reverse-chronological layout usually works best as it promotes your recent achievements.

• Start with a resume header that includes your name and current job title.
• Divide the document into visible resume sections.
• Wondering what font to use for a resume? Stick to the classics, don’t go too flashy.
• Leave enough white space for readability. Remember that crammed doesn’t mean relevant.

Pro Tip: Save your resume file as a PDF, unless the job offer states differently. PDFs are ATS software-friendly and most of the companies prefer them.

2. Write a Tax Accountant Resume Summary or Objective

Financial statements are a child's play to you but writing a resume profile statement seems like a struggle?

Don't worry.

We’ll help you decide which resume statement is better for you: a resume summary or resume objective.

If you’re in the accounting business for more than 2 years, use a career summary. It focuses on your achievements and promotes your career best moments.

If you’re targeting an entry-level position, go for a career objective. It will highlight your skills and show the recruiting manager why you’re top dog.

Remember: write your tax accountant resume profile after you have other resume sections in place. It’s much easier to summarize the best things this way.

Pro Tip: If you’re about to start a career within the IRS, here's a list of jobs and divisions you can aim for: IRS divisions.

3. Create the Perfect Tax Accountant Job Description for a Resume

Talk is cheap. Want to know how to best sell yourself?

Put a number on everything when you describe your work experience on a resume.

Your tax specialist job description needs to prove that you’re perfect for the position.

And that you’ll excel exactly at what they’re looking for.

Tailor your resume to the job offer to highlight all relevant skills and experience:

• Begin with your latest or current job, then move back in your career history.
• For each position, add your job title, company name, location, and dates worked.
• Put your duties and accomplishments on a bullet point list. Make each entry 6-7 bullets long.
• Use resume action verbs, such as managed, reviewed, restructured, prepared, declared, etc.
• Put numbers and percentages on your resume to back up your experience with quantifiable achievements.

Pro Tip: Writing a senior tax accountant job description? Remember to show your promotions on the resume. If you got promoted internally and your duties changed—create a separate entry with bullet points for each job title. Then put them under one umbrella header with your company name.

4. Make Your Tax Accountant Resume Education Section Great

Formal education is a must for tax accountants.

Apart from a bachelor's degree in accounting, additional training is usually necessary.

Prove that you're well-trained for the job with a great resume education section.

Here’s how to do it:

• If you’ve been in business for over 5 years, stick to listing your highest degree, school name and location, plus graduation year.
• If you’re a less experienced candidate, consider listing your GPA (if upwards of 3.5) and academic achievements. Relevant coursework and extracurricular activities are also valuable.

Note: Most tax accounting positions nowadays require a CPA designation and other relevant certifications. More on that later.

5. Highlight Your Tax Accountant Skills

Accounting is more than just crunching numbers.

Want that lucrative job? You need to show off your skills.

Prove them to the recruiter by creating a list of relevant job skills.

Your tax accountant resume should focus on hard skills and technical skills.

However, listing your soft skills is also important as tax accounting is not only about Excel spreadsheets. It’s also about great communication with people.

Use the list below to pick out your key tax accountant skills.

Top Skills for a Career in Accounting

• Financial statements
• Payroll taxes
• State tax law
• Corporate tax law
• Income tax law
• Social security tax law
• Tax compliance
• Tax returns
• IT skills
• Account analysis
• Revenue projections
• Account reconciliation
• Profit and loss
• Mathematics
• QuickBooks
• Invoices
• Microsoft Excel, Access, and SQL bases
• Attention to detail
• Data entry
• Analytical skills
• Collaboration skills
• Critical thinking
• Decision making
• Problem-solving
• Time management

Pro Tip: Don't fudge your resume with too many skills. What you need are abilities relevant to the job description.

When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building your resume here.

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When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.

6. Add Other Sections to Your Tax Accountant Resume

By now you've covered all the crucial resume parts.

But... Here's how to kick your resume up a notch—

Use these extra resume sections to outshine the others:

• Certifications: are you an Enrolled Agent or Certified Tax Coach? Any tax expert certification has a positive ROI. Make it prominent in a separate resume section.
• Language skills: always an asset, especially for international accounting.
• List of interests: it’s a nice change of pace on a technical resume. It shows more than your professional side.
• List of accomplishments: improved a process or two and got an Employee of the Month award? Show it off in a separate section of your resume.

Pro Tip: Over 86% recruitment decision-makers find voluntary experience on a resume important. Create a resume section with voluntary gigs (bonus points if it's relevant in some way to the job ad.)

7. Attach a Tax Accountant Resume Cover Letter

Do you need a cover letter?

Yes, you do.

A well-written cover letter can accelerate your chances of winning an interview.

Use the tips below to write a first-rate cover letter:

• Choose the best cover letter format for a job.
• Set the encouraging tone with your cover letter intro.
• Make an offer to the employer by addressing their specific needs.
• Include a call to action in your cover letter conclusion.

Pro Tip: How long should a cover letter be? Three paragraphs, less than one page. This works best. Keep it short but focused.

Easy as one, two, three!

That’s how you make a job-winning resume for a tax accountant.

Thanks for reading! What do you think of this sample tax accountant resume? Are you writing an entry-level or senior tax accountant resume? We’d love to hear from you, leave your comment below!