When it comes to the work of tax consultants, I can't help but think of many experiences written by my predecessors when I was looking for a job after graduation. Among them, the description of the work content is basically similar: the first1~ 2 years were mainly compliance-related work, such as tax declaration and tax review; After that, more and more people will take on some more advisory work. Looking back now, these descriptions read at the beginning are slightly specious. The aspect of "yes" is that when I try to describe my work in the past few years in words today, I will still choose to put pen to paper like this. But at the same time, I must admit that my feelings at work are actually quite different from my understanding and imagination when I first read these descriptions. The reason may be "being in this mountain" now.
Aside from specific work items, I think the work of tax consultants can be summed up in two aspects: interpreting tax laws and regulations and understanding the business environment. From the perspective of tax laws and regulations, a good tax consultant needs to have a deep understanding of the legal system, legal basis and ambiguities related to specific tax issues. At the same time, we should also understand the views of taxpayers and tax authorities on these issues in practice and the usual operation methods. For some problems, it is necessary to have a considerable understanding of relevant legal and accounting matters. In terms of business environment, as consultants, our job is to help customers find solutions to tax-related problems. These tax-related issues are raised not because customers are curious about the theory of tax law, but because these issues have different degrees of influence on customers' business activities. The ability to interpret the business environment behind customers' tax-related issues may have a decisive impact on the value of tax consultancy work.
For example, we often receive inquiries from customers about the tax treatment of a new business. At this time, we should not only explain the relevant tax laws and regulations to customers, but more importantly, put forward valuable suggestions for customers' business decisions. For example, what are the related tax costs? Are these costs likely to be beyond the acceptable range of customers? If it is high, does it mean that customers need to consider giving up this new business? However, new business is often a very important business decision for enterprises, and it is difficult to overturn it just because of tax factors. A good tax consultant will, on the basis of deeply understanding the logic and demands behind the customer's business, help the customer to consider adjusting some links and contents of this business, so as to maximize the purpose of developing new business for the customer under the condition of controllable tax cost. Even if the tax consultant has a good judgment, there may be no reasonable method to enable the customer to control the tax cost/risk of this new business at an acceptable low level, it is necessary to show the above analysis to the customer's decision-making level in a business logic way. Excellent tax consultants should not only accurately explain the tax costs of related issues, but also be able to make a convincing comparison with the benefits that customers expect from this business. To do this, tax consultants need to have a deep understanding of the relevant business environment.
From the perspective of skills training and experience accumulation, tax consultants are not very special. Like many other jobs, to be an excellent tax consultant needs to cultivate a rigorous and down-to-earth work style, meticulous logical thinking and keen business tentacles. As long as they pay equal attention to these qualities, excellent tax consultants should be competent in terms of ability, and what needs to be supplemented is more knowledge-based content. The experience of my colleagues around me is similar. After leaving the firm, if they choose to continue to develop in the enterprise, some of them will develop in finance, strategy and operation besides doing tax work. There are also some colleagues who choose to work in other professional service institutions after leaving, such as law firms, private equity funds and investment banks.