How I chose a career in tax - my story for Tax Awareness Week

When people ask how I ended up working in tax, the honest answer is: by accident. Looking back now, it was a happy one.

At school, I had no real idea what I wanted to do. I chose the A-levels I enjoyed - Business Studies, Maths, Physics and Theology. I liked logic, numbers and business. Theology, if I’m honest, started out as a way to get an extra free period, but I ended up finding Philosophy and Ethics genuinely interesting.

Initial setbacks

When I began looking at careers that involved logic and numbers, it probably shouldn’t have surprised me that accountancy kept coming up. I applied to university hoping to study accounting in Newcastle, but I didn’t get the grades I needed.

Results day was tough. While my friends celebrated getting into their chosen universities, I was sat in the back of my parents’ car wondering what to do next - then putting on a brave face at the results party we’d all agreed to go to.

In the weeks that followed, I signed up at the Jobcentre and applied for a whole range of roles across different sectors. Accounting was still on my radar, but I knew I needed work experience wherever I could get it. 

Work experience

After several knockbacks, I was offered four weeks’ work experience in an admin role at the Department for Work and Pensions over the Christmas period. It was my first real taste of the working world and it made all the difference.

With that experience on my CV, interviews started to follow. I went for an admin apprenticeship at a small accounting firm in Sheffield. At that point, I just wanted my foot in the door.

During the interview, they asked about my aspirations. I said accounting and was told there wasn’t space in their accounts team, but there was an opportunity in tax. So I initially joined their tax team in a mixed admin and tax apprentice role.

Tax apprenticeship role

At first, accounting was still very much on my mind. I started studying AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) while working in tax, passing exams alongside a role that involved typing letters, filing paperwork and being trained on how to complete self-assessment tax returns. That training meant learning how to navigate accounts too, which all helped build my understanding and confidence.

When the firm later merged with a larger practice, new opportunities opened up. I was given the chance to try working in accounts to see whether what I’d thought I wanted years earlier was actually right for me. Given that I’m now writing this as a tax manager, I think you can guess the outcome - I preferred working in tax.

Studying for tax qualifications

I pivoted my studies to ATT (Association of Taxation Technicians), with a view to completing CTA (Chartered Tax Adviser), which I ultimately did. Over time, I moved away from the admin side of the role and became responsible for my own portfolio of clients and their tax affairs. I went from being the trainee to helping develop new trainees by working through setbacks, taking opportunities, and gradually narrowing down what I really wanted to do.

My background is in personal tax compliance, which served me well for over ten years, from apprenticeship through to tax manager. I’m now part of the tax planning team at Shorts, using the knowledge I’ve built up over the years in new and more complex ways.

Looking back now to my early career choices

If I could go back now and give one piece of advice to my younger self, sat in the back of my parents’ car on results it would be this: be confident. Not making it to university felt like failure and knocked my confidence, but I’ve learned that when you push yourself, good things happen.

That’s been a theme throughout my career. Whenever an opportunity presents itself, I try to step outside my comfort zone and take it. The more experience you get, across different areas, the better.

When I first started out, I thought tax would simply be a steady job, and it wasn’t what I intended to be doing long-term. But working with good people, helping clients, and putting my hand up for different opportunities has made it far more enjoyable than I ever expected.

What I enjoy most about working in tax

I enjoy the problem solving and knowing I’m a genuine asset to my clients. Helping someone understand their tax position and showing them how much money we can save them is a great place to be. And the more complex the issue, the more interesting it is to solve.

Tax isn’t always what people expect. Even the phrase “daylight robbery” comes from old tax law, when people were taxed on the number of windows in their house and bricked them up to avoid paying. Literally taxing access to daylight.

For me, tax has been a career built on learning, opportunity, and saying yes when something unexpected comes along even when it starts out as an accident.