Tax Accountant Resume Example & Writing Guide

Why use this tax accountant resume example?

If you’re at a loss on how to get your tax accountant resume started, then you’ve come to the right place. Take a look at our example resume to show you how a solid and effective resume should look and what it should contain.

Start out with a short summary or introduction on why you’re a great tax accountant. It should point out what some of your best professional traits and abilities are. Include information about your career and achievements. How long have you been in the industry? What specialties do you have expertise in? Write a summary that pops because you want to grab the reader’s attention and make them want to read on.

The next major component of your tax accountant resume is to have a list of great skills. Make sure you have a mix of technical (hard) and nontechnical (people or soft) skills. Include your strongest skills, but try to list skills that are unique. Don’t have the usual skills that every tax accountant is going to have. Your goal is to make your resume stand out and be memorable to your potential new employer.

Keep the length of the list of skills reasonable. Eight to twelve is a good number. You don’t want to have a really long list of skills because it will take too much real estate on your resume and a potential boss is going to get bored reading a long set of terms. Remember to use words that are keywords or industry recognized terms for your skills. We’ll give you some examples at the end of this article.

After the summary is the professional experience section, beginning with your most recent role.  In this section, you can include a short paragraph that lists your job duties, followed by a bulleted list of achievements–these are what will help you stand out from the competition. 

How to write a great tax accountant resume

Writing a resume is like a good tax statement. You need to include all the facts, but you don’t want to have a bunch of extraneous data or information on it. Keep it simple and avoid using a lot of adjectives and flowery wording. You don’t need to build up your accounting achievements. The numbers should speak for themselves.

Another reason for not using too many words is because you want to keep your resume brief. It should fit on no more than two pages, if you have a lot of work experience, one page if you don’t. Focus on the highlights of your career. Your potential new boss doesn’t need to see an explanation of what a tax accountant does. They already know that. List out the unique things you have done and spend most of your space on accomplishments.

Create a separate section for your education and any professional development (training) that you have. You can also include professional certifications and licenses in this section. Accounting usually involves working with a lot of technology, so include a section about all your tech skills and knowledge. Computer software and systems, as well as any other information technology expertise or experience that you may have. This will set your resume apart from other candidates, and that’s your goal.

Which key skills are relevant for a tax accountant resume?

Accounting and tax accounting specifically requires a lot of education, experience, and skills. Make sure your resume stands out by having the best and most relevant skills for the tax accountant position that you are applying for. Look at the job ad and note all the skills they require. Then use the ones that match your skill set.

Here are some solid skills to include on your tax accountant’s resume:

• Accounting

• Tax laws 

• Bookkeeping

• Collaboration

• Communication

• Computer literacy

• Critical thinking

• Customer service

• Decision-making

• Problem-solving

• Tax preparation