Tax Specialist
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Tax Specialist is responsible for documenting all stages of the accounting cycle in order to prepare Federal, State and local tax returns. Will review data prior to preparing the returns, prepare and file returns and will also provide background documentation in case of an audit.
Job Outlook
There were 1177 Tax Specialist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 41274 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Tax Analyst / Specialist industry, which includes the Tax Specialist career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Tax Specialist jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $74,906.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $72,776.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Tax Specialist postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $53,823.
Education and Experience
Posted Tax Specialist jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 2.99% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 65.68% |
| Master's Degree | 25.54% |
| Doctoral Degree | 6.31% |
| Other | 23.58% |
Posted Tax Specialist jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 44.79% |
| 3 to 5 years | 48.37% |
| 6 to 8 years | 4.15% |
| 9+ years | 2.69% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Tax Specialist positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Communication (32.44%)
- Customer Service (26.93%)
- Sales (26.83%)
- Research (26.22%)
- Writing (21.44%)
- Management (18.33%)
- Detail Oriented (16.44%)
- Planning (15.9%)
- Problem Solving (15.51%)
- Microsoft Excel (15.28%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Income Tax (31.35%)
- Tax Returns (52.2%)
- Tax Planning (30.58%)
- Public Accounting (26.11%)
- Corporate Tax (16.52%)
- Accounting (70.98%)
- Tax Consulting (16.62%)
- Tax Laws (17.69%)
- Tax Compliance (15.9%)
- Auditing (42.86%)
- Marketing (23.1%)
- State Taxes (8.88%)
- Tax Research (18.86%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Bookkeeping (13.37%)
- Tax Preparation (15.24%)
- Business Development (4.4%)
- Finance (31.8%)
- Financial Statements (7.57%)
- Project Management (9.88%)
- Tax Management (2.58%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Franchise Tax (3.78%)
- International Taxation (6.52%)
- Tax Compliance Software (8.16%)
- Tax Provision (7.3%)
- TurboTax (5.17%)
- Preparer Tax Identification Number (3.85%)
- Software Product Management (4.42%)
- Partnership Tax (5.55%)
- ASC 740 (Accounting For Income Taxes) (6.75%)
- Tax Analysis (2.93%)
- Tax Software (5.92%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Tax Provision (10.18%)
- Public Accounting (36.42%)
- Tax Research (26.32%)
- Auditing (59.79%)
- Franchise Tax (5.28%)
- Partnership Tax (7.75%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Tax Specialist skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Tax Professional
- Tax Associate
- Lead Tax Associate
- First Year Tax Professional
- Tax Expert
- Tax Staff
- Credentialed Tax Expert
- Tax Advisor
- State and Local Tax Associate
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Tax Specialist jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- H&R Block (8065)
- KPMG (2022)
- Intuit (1969)
- GPAC (1677)
- Deloitte (1662)
- Forvis (1015)
- PricewaterhouseCoopers (961)
- Ernst & Young (720)
- Cherry Bekaert (715)
- Crowe (714)
North Carolina
- H&R Block (151)
- Forvis (135)
- GPAC (104)
- PricewaterhouseCoopers (64)
- KPMG (55)
- Cherry Bekaert (47)
- Intuit (46)
- Deloitte (42)
- RSM (22)
- Ledgeview Partners (22)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.