20+ Professional Tax Accountant Resume Templates and Examples

Let’s make this clear: a tax accountant is not the same as a public accountant. Sure, tax accountant resumes stand out more if they have a CPA accreditation, but it’s not an essential factor to being a tax accountant. What’s more, though the two both deal in tax returns, CPAs dabble in a wider range of tasks than tax accountants who are in charge of:

• Analyzing financial data
• Assisting in tax audits
• Preparing, submitting, and managing tax statements and returns for clients
• Providing tax planning strategies and advice

Nonetheless, like CPAs, tax accountants still have to have completed studies in a relevant academic background and possess a strong knowledge of tax law and regulations. Fitting this all into your tax accountant resume will impress hiring managers and help you bank a solid average annual salary of $75,562.

So, where do you start? In this article, we’ll share exactly how to write a tax accountant resume, outlining what sections you’ll need and what tips will guarantee making an impression. We’ll then move onto some stellar samples, including a professional resume for entry-level applicants. 

How to Write a Tax Accountant Resume

If you’ve ever written a resume before, you’ll know that there are four key sections to your resume: the Resume Profile, Work Experience, Skills, and Education section (though not necessarily in that order). However, when it comes to tax accountant resumes, we also have to throw in a Certifications section.

Let’s see how all these sections contribute to crafting a professional tax accountant resume.

Resume Header

Important features of the resume profile like contact information (email and mobile) and portfolio links aside, the first thing you need to focus on is your tax accountant resume header. Essentially a title that you crown unto yourself, the resume header is a short phrase that sums up the most important thing about you. 

While experienced tax accountants may consider the most important thing to be their CPA qualification (which is understandably very important), entry-level candidates may instead choose for their resume header to be the position they’re applying to, i.e. Tax Accountant. Don’t worry, both methods are acceptable for your tax accountant resume.

Here are a few simple examples that are great resume headers:

Resume Summary

While it’s not a hard and fast rule, it’s generally advised that entry-level candidates focus on a resume objective, while professional candidates (those with a minimum of 2 years of experience) focus on a tax accountant resume summary. This stems from the idea that experienced candidates have more achievements that can be summarized, while fresh graduates or career changers only have their transferable skills. 

That said, regardless of if you’re more focused on writing a resume objective, you should still aim to be writing 2 to 4 sentences about yourself. For experienced tax accountants, this can be done through highlighting significant accomplishments, expertise, core competencies, and relevant skills.

Resume Objective

Resume objectives, also referred to as ‘career objectives’, are when you share your motivations, goals, and/or reasons for the application. They’re seen as an important part of a resume for entry-level tax accountants because they bring the focus to your strengths and transferable skills, rather than your work experience achievements like in a resume summary. 

Unlike fresh graduates, the resume objective is not hugely important for experienced applicants, however it’s still a good idea to include even just a sentence about why you’re applying or what you think you will gain from this position - and how that will benefit you in the long run.

Work Experience

Now that we’ve gotten through the meet-and-greet part of the tax accountant resume, it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty. That is, the work experience section. 

Arguably the most important part of your resume, the work experience section is your chance to show recruiters how your own skills and tax accountant achievements make you the matching candidate to the job description. You can ensure this by:

• Taking Keywords from the Tax Accountant Job Description:

In addition to accurately conveying what you did in a role, you also need to consider how to make your work experiences relate or align to the job that you’re applying to. While you could go down the implication route, it’s actually better for you to use the same keywords as the tax accountant job description in your resume. 

This is for one of two reasons. The first is that it helps the Applicant Tracking System (more on this later) register you as a valid candidate. The second is that using keywords from the job description makes you more attractive to hiring managers as you have, or your tax accountant resume says you have, exactly what they’re looking for. 

• Writing in an Active Voice: 

Meek, unassertive, resigned,...these are all synonyms of passive, the opposite of what you should convey in your tax accountant resume. Ensure this by writing in an active voice that conveys confidence and demonstrates your accomplishments within a role. Even better, use one of the thirty active verbs in the table below, tailored precisely for tax accountant job descriptions.

• Quantifying Your Tax Accountant Achievements:

Though it can be hard to know the exact figure of impact, you want to quantify your achievements in your resume to the best of your knowledge, taking care to ensure that they are practical, compelling, and convincing. This is a position that prides itself on numbers and accuracy, after all. 

Below are a few ways to note tax accountant achievements in your resume. Remember that for each work experience entered, you need to add the job title, company name, location (or country that you worked remotely in), and employment period.

Skills

Tax accountants need to be comfortable with solving complex calculations, delivering exceptional customer service, maintaining keen attention to detail, abiding by tax laws, and proficiency using accounting software. In short, tax accountant must have the following skills:

• Knowledge of Tax Law
• Financial Statements
• Accounting Software
• Attention to Detail
• Communication

That said, there are a great many other skills that you’re likely to see mentioned on tax accountant job descriptions, such as the following 40 hard (technical) and soft tax accountant resume skills.

Education

Unlike other professions, tax accountants are required to have a bachelor’s degree with a major in either:

• Accounting 
• Finance
• Economics
• Business Administration. 

Yes, a high school diploma won’t cut it, nor should you even mention your high school diploma on a tax accountant resume. Instead, you should mention the university you attended, the degree level (BA, BSc, etc.), program(s) of study, and duration of your study (from start to end). If you’re still studying, you should note down the expected graduation date. 

Recent graduates may additionally wish to include more information about their studies, such as coursework, projects, awards, or extracurricular activities, that showcase transferable tax accountant resume skills. 

Professionals with more years of experience may also choose to include resources they used for upskilling, such as completing certifications or courses like:

• Chartered Global Management Accountant (AICPA)
• Enrolled Agent (IRS)
• Financial Reporting Specialization (Coursera)

Here’s how you list your education in a tax accountant resume:

Certifications

Though not an essential part of becoming a tax accountant, many jobs do require certain certifications (normally CPA). This can easily be added to your tax accountant resume by adding a ‘Certifications’ section. While you don’t have to list all the certifications you have on your resume, this isn’t a CV, you should try to mention the most important to the application.

Here are a few relevant certifications to consider applying for that will bolster your tax accountant resume enormously:

• Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
• Chartered Tax Advisor (CTA)
• Certified Financial Planner (CFP)
• Chartered Tax Advisor (CTA)
• Enrolled Agent (EA)

Not completed a certificate yet but in the process of gaining one? Don’t worry, you can still list it on your tax accountant resume by including your expected completion date.

This is an example of certifications list on a tax accountant resume:

Tips for Writing a Tax Accountant Resume

Ensure you use an ATS-friendly resume template

ATS stands for Applicant Tracking System, a software used to collect and scan job applications. While used en masse at large companies - meaning that the likelihood of your tax accountant resume being run through one is exceptionally high - it’s not an all-knowing system because it struggles to recognize graphs, tables, columns, images, and special characters. 

This means that it’s incredibly important for your resume template to be ATS-friendly. With Cake's ATS-compliant resumes you can easily avoid running into trouble. All you have to do is set aside 5 minutes of your time to choose an already ATS-compliant template, customize the text and layout, and save the file as a PDF. That’s it!

Customize your resume to the job description

Customization is key when it comes to getting the hiring manager’s attention and into their good books, hence why a generic tax accountant resume just won’t cut it. If you want to avoid your resume seeming irrelevant, be sure to ask yourself the following questions before hitting that ‘submit’ button:

• Have you conveyed the key skills mentioned in the job description on your resume?
• Are you using the same keywords and terms used in the tax accountant job description on your resume?

If you can answer ‘Yes’ and ‘Yes’ then you’ll know that you’ve properly customized your tax accountant resume to the position. 

Use the right resume format for your tax accountant resume

Even if you have everything in place for your tax accountant resume, it could still all fall flat if you choose the wrong resume format as this is key to showing your organization and attention to detail. But which should you choose? First, you need to consider which fits best with your experience.

The most commonly used format is the reverse chronological format, which is recommended for those with a consistent work history and career progression. However, only experienced professionals are recommended to use this type of format. Entry-level candidates are instead strongly recommended to use a skills-based format for their tax accountant resume, as this focuses on transferable capabilities rather than work experience.  

Include additional sections

You may find that the traditional components of a resume - resume profile, work experience, skills, education, and certifications - are not enough to cover everything that you can bring to the position. If that’s the case, you may want to consider creating an additional section on your tax accountant resume. This could be to include any:

• Projects: If you partook in a project that showcases relevant skills and achievements, especially for entry-level applicants, be sure to add this to your tax accountant resume.
• Awards: Whether you were awarded university-level or industry-level recognition, be sure to include this to your resume if you think it shows transferable skills and is relevant to the position.
• Membership: It is likely, though not compulsory, that more senior tax accountants will be part of an association, like the American Taxation AssocIation (ATA), for example. Should you belong to a relevant taxation body, be sure to mention this on your resume.

Tax Accountant Resume Samples

Entry Level Tax Accountant Resume (Functional Resume Format)

Junior Tax Accountant Resume (Chronological Resume Format)

Tax Accountant Resume (Mid-career)

Senior Tax Accountant Resume

Conclusion

In this article we’ve covered what makes a professional tax accountant resume tick, from how to make the resume profile pop with key information to the four main skills required for this position (remember: communication, knowledge of tax law, financial statements, proficiency in accounting software, and attention to detail). 

We’ve also gone over how to make your resume stand out from the crowd by finding an ATS-compliant template, customizing your resume to the JD, using the right resume format, and by adding any additional sections like any super important certifications, awards, or projects that give you a chance to highlight transferable skills. 

Now all that’s left to do is to start writing your tax accountant resume. Head on over to Cake’s free resume builder to get your application started, or continue to procrastinate a little with our vast selection of resources geared towards making your application a piece of cake!

— Originally written by Eva O'Mara —