Are you considering a career change into tax preparation? Maybe you’re looking to earn some extra money by offering tax prep as a side business for a few months of the year.Tax preparation can offer one of the simpler avenues for starting your own business or adding some extra revenue to an existing operation.
Being a professional tax preparer requires a lot of talents and capabilities beyond knowledge or interest in tax law, and you might be surprised to learn that you probably already have some skills that could readily transfer into a career as a tax professional.
Learn more about transferable skills that could make you an ideal candidate for running a tax preparation business.
What are transferable skills?
Transferable skills are abilities, knowledge, and experience that you can apply across different careers or industries. These skills are versatile and valuable in a variety of work settings and often encompass both hard skills, like technical proficiencies, and soft skills, like interpersonal abilities.
Top skills for a successful tax preparation career
If you have some or all of the following transferable skills, you could be a good candidate for transitioning into a career in tax preparation:
Interpersonal and customer service skills
If you already enjoy working with others or have experience providing customer service, those skills will readily transfer to working as a tax preparer. Tax preparation is an interpersonal business, which means clients are far more likely to retain your services year after year if they feel you are personable, able to communicate clearly, and capable of understanding and addressing their tax challenges.
If you’ve worked as a retail store manager, insurance agent, or even as a teacher, you’ve had a job requiring regular interaction with customers, colleagues, and the general public. If you’ve been able to successfully navigate those professional relationships, then tax preparation could be a logical transition career for you.
Critical thinking and problem solving
Tax preparers must routinely navigate complex tax issues for their clients. This often requires analyzing financial documents, interpreting tax laws, and developing strategies to help clients reduce their tax liabilities. This kind of critical thinking is crucial to success in a career as a tax professional, where you will regularly encounter complicated and new tax legislation that you’ll need to unravel in order to provide solid counsel to clients.
If you like analyzing and interpreting data, solving problems at work, and offering solutions to challenges your customers or supervisors bring to you, then those skills will easily transfer into the often complex world of tax preparation.
Time management
Time management is another critical skill in the field of tax preparation, where working hours can be long and intense from December through May. If you currently occupy a role that requires strict attention to deadlines and you like the challenge of performing complex tasks under pressure, tax preparation is a solid career option.
Effective organization and time management are essential for tax preparers, who must manage dozens –if not hundreds – of client files, prioritize tasking, adhere to tax filing deadlines, and ensure the accuracy and timeliness of returns.
Communication
If you work in a field like customer service or human resources, then excellent communication is probably one of the hallmarks of your skillset. Even better if you have experience translating complex topics and ideas into layman’s terms . Tax preparers frequently have to explain the nuances of the tax code or break down the key points of new tax legislation to their clients in order to obtain necessary financial data for accurately preparing their tax returns. And those effective communication skills will also give you the ability to win your clients’ trust by being a reliable and easy-to-access expert on their tax questions and concerns.
Financial and tax knowledge
Tax industry knowledge, while not absolutely necessary, is definitely a plus if you’re looking to pursue a career in tax preparation. More important, however, is being able to understand basic bookkeeping and accounting and having an interest in expanding your tax knowledge. Fortunately, you can get up to speed on the knowledge and skills needed to prepare taxes pretty quickly thanks to several low-cost continuing education and certification programs as well as online resources for tax preparers.
Ethics and integrity
Ethics and integrity are critical qualities for tax preparers. As a tax professional, you’ll have access to private client financial data, and your clients will expect you to protect their personal information as well as complete tax returns accurately and on time. By upholding strong ethical standards, tax preparers safeguard client interests and contribute to the overall integrity of the United States tax system. If you work in any fiduciary role, say as a financial or legal advisor, then you already know the value of ethics and integrity in the workplace and can readily transfer your strong moral compass into a role as a tax preparer.
Ready to learn more about how to leverage skills you already have for a career transition into tax preparation? You can access a lot of the information you’ll need to get started online, everything from how to obtain a Preparer Tax Identification Number from the IRS to how to choose the right tax prep software. With the high demand for talent in the field, the schedule flexibility it can often offer, as well as the opportunity it provides to start your own business without a large financial investment, tax preparation can be a financially and personally rewarding career option for professionals coming from a variety of other industry sectors.
