Tax Preparer

Overview

Who is Tax Preparer?

In India, a tax consultant is a professional who gives advice relating to direct tax (eg. income tax, wealth tax, property tax) and indirect tax (eg. GST, customs duty tax). Tax consultants, often also referred to as tax advisors or tax preparers or tax accountants, are professionals, having financial proficiency and training in tax law, tax compliance, and tax planning of a country.

Both individuals and organizations hire a tax consultant to help them optimally complete their tax returns every financial year. Tax advisors use their knowledge of the tax code to assist their customers in making informed financial decisions about tax matters.

Typical day at work

What does Tax Preparer do?

Individuals and small businesses hire tax preparers to prepare their tax returns. Clients are interviewed to learn more about their taxable income, deductible costs, and allowances. To keep customers' taxes to a minimum, use all appropriate adjustments, deductions, and credits.

They assist in preparing simple to complex tax returns for individuals or small businesses and use all appropriate adjustments, deductions, and credits to keep clients' taxes to a minimum.

A Tax consultant in India is trained and educated about Indian tax laws and regulations. They attempt to minimize their client’s tax liabilities and maximize tax deductions and/or credits by advising their clients about tax laws and penalties.

They extract and analyse information from the client’s financial documents such as, wage, employment and mortgage, investment statements, etc. for the submission of prepared documents to the Internal Revenue Service and coordinate with tax authorities.

Along with tax filing, the job of a tax consultant is also extended in services such as:

• Income-tax and income-tax return filing.
• Planning with clients to reduce tax liability.
• Filing e-returns.
• Conducting research on tax laws and compliance issues.
• Captivating gains of current economy enhancing tax laws.
• Deferring taxes to future years.
• Completing and submitting tax forms like Form 16, Form 12 B, etc.
• Help clients make legitimate investment plans such as life insurance, term insurance, health insurance, pension plans, child plans, estate planning, and other tax-saving schemes by the government.
• Handling profit and losses on capital assets to counterbalance each other.
• To measure the tax and co-ordinate with the tax authorities.
• Oversee state and central audits.
• Help clients or companies to be aware of the state-run, local as well as global tax structures.
• Meeting clients and discussing their financial situation.
• Gathering information and data to calculate the amount of tax due.
• Auditing clients’ tax records.
• Explaining tax laws to clients and finding ways to reduce their tax liabilities.
• Producing reports or presentations for clients.
• Negotiating with HM Revenue and Custom on your client’s behalf.
• Keeping up to date with changes in tax laws and regulations.
• In some jobs, you may also provide other accountancy services for clients..

Abilities & aptitude needed

What are the skills, abilities & aptitude needed to become Tax Preparer?

• A career in taxation demands an individual to be a good communicator, be comfortable with numbers, be out-of-the-box thinkers and be creative.
• Besides accountancy skills, it requires excellent problem-solving skills, negotiation skills, commercial skills and analytical ability. 
• They also need to be efficient in time management such as meeting deadlines, prioritizing tasks, and taking personal responsibility for a professional workload. One could take up this job if they have commercial awareness, willingness to learn about the taxation sector and current market scenario.
• One needs to pay great attention to details, as well as the ability to understand and explain complex regulations in a way non-specialists can understand. 

Courses

Which course I can pursue?