Top 12 Tax Assistant Skills to Put on Your Resume
In today’s hiring scrum, tax assistants who blend sharp software know‑how with steady client skills rise fastest. Put the right mix of tools and judgment on display, and your resume stops feeling generic. It starts signaling accuracy, speed, and calm in the storm of filings, deadlines, and ever‑shifting rules.
Tax Assistant Skills
1. QuickBooks
QuickBooks is accounting software built for small and mid‑size businesses, centralizing income, expenses, payroll, and reconciliations while producing reports that feed cleanly into tax prep.
Why It's Important
For a Tax Assistant, QuickBooks keeps financial data consistent and searchable, automates categorization through bank rules, supports 1099 and sales tax workflows, and cuts down transposition errors before they snowball.
How to Improve QuickBooks Skills
Wire up the data flow: Connect bank and card feeds, then craft bank rules so routine transactions sort themselves.
Tune the chart of accounts: Map accounts to tax lines you actually file. Merge redundant accounts. Kill the clutter.
Automate the boring: Use recurring invoices/bills, memorized transactions, and scheduled reports.
Report with intent: Build custom Profit & Loss by month, cash vs. accrual views, 1099 summaries, and sales tax liability reports you trust.
Integrate smartly: Add receipt capture, time tracking, and your tax software import path to prevent double entry.
Reconcile relentlessly: Month‑end bank and credit card reconciliations, no excuses. Variances get investigated immediately.
Lock it down: Use roles, close prior periods, enable multi‑factor authentication, and keep backups on a schedule.
Stay current: Update software and tax tables, and review any payroll or sales tax changes before quarter‑end.
How to Display QuickBooks Skills on Your Resume
2. Excel
Excel is the grid where raw numbers become answers—organizing, calculating, and shaping data into tax‑ready outputs.
Why It's Important
It speeds up reconciliation, validates assumptions, and documents calculations for reviewers, keeping compliance tight and math airtight.
How to Improve Excel Skills
Level up formulas: Move beyond SUM and AVERAGE. Use SUMIFS, XLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, TEXT functions, and DATE math for precise tax period work.
PivotTables and slicers: Summarize by entity, period, or category in seconds and drill without mangling the source data.
Power Query and Power Pivot: Import, clean, and model multi‑sheet or multi‑system data. Fewer manual steps, fewer mistakes.
Data validation and conditional formatting: Stop bad inputs at the door; spotlight anomalies you actually need to see.
Structured references: Turn ranges into Tables. Formulas become readable, updates become painless.
Shortcuts and templates: Build working papers and tie‑out templates once. Reuse ruthlessly.
Error checks: Add control totals, cross‑foot checks, and reconcile tabs so issues shout early.
How to Display Excel Skills on Your Resume
3. TurboTax
TurboTax is tax preparation software that guides users through federal and state returns and e‑file submissions.
Why It's Important
It streamlines data entry, flags inconsistencies, and supports common forms and credits, helping you file accurately and on time.
How to Improve TurboTax Skills
Master both modes: Use guided interview for speed, then switch to forms view to verify nuanced entries.
Use imports: Pull W‑2s, 1099s, and compatible accounting exports where possible to cut keystrokes and typos.
Know the deduction landscape: Be fluent in education, childcare, retirement, energy, and itemized deduction nuances so the software’s prompts don’t get the final say.
Lean on diagnostics: Run final reviews early. Resolve red flags and informational notes before e‑file day.
Track acknowledgments: Monitor acceptances, manage rejections, and document fixes for clean audit trails.
Update annually: New forms, new limits, new credits. Practice with sample returns before peak season hits.
How to Display TurboTax Skills on Your Resume
4. TaxAct
TaxAct is tax software for preparing and e‑filing federal and state returns for individuals and small businesses.
Why It's Important
It offers an affordable, straightforward workflow, with checks that reduce errors and tools that surface potential savings.
How to Improve TaxAct Skills
Learn the navigation: Customize favorites, jump between topics, and find forms quickly.
Build checklists: Standardize client document requests so nothing goes missing at crunch time.
Template the common stuff: Save entries for recurring situations—sole proprietors, rental activity, education credits.
Rehearse state returns: Practice a few multi‑state scenarios so sourcing and apportionment aren’t a scramble.
Use the review tools: Clear errors early; document assumptions in preparer notes.
How to Display TaxAct Skills on Your Resume
5. H&R Block
H&R Block provides in‑person and software‑based tax preparation services for individuals and small businesses.
Why It's Important
Its guided process, human help when needed, and broad form coverage make complex filings less intimidating and more accurate.
How to Improve H&R Block Skills
Know the interview flow: Anticipate the next screen and gather documents before the prompts ask.
Use document capture: Scan and attach support right away so reviews move quickly.
Tag tricky areas: Build quick reference notes for things like education credits, ACA reporting, and retirement distributions.
Practice amendments: Get comfortable fixing prior‑year issues and filing 1040‑X without drama.
Stay policy‑sharp: Monitor annual updates to credits, thresholds, and due‑date changes.
How to Display H&R Block Skills on Your Resume
6. SAP
SAP is enterprise software that connects finance, procurement, sales, and more—housing tax‑relevant data and enabling compliant reporting.
Why It's Important
It centralizes source transactions, applies tax rules at the point of posting, and supports audit‑ready reporting across entities and jurisdictions.
How to Improve SAP Skills
Focus on FI and tax config: Learn tax codes, condition records, and how postings flow to the general ledger.
Understand S/4HANA and Fiori apps: Use modern reporting and analytics for faster reconciliations.
Document flows end‑to‑end: Trace a transaction from source module to tax reporting to catch breaks in logic.
Build reporting chops: Run and customize standard tax and VAT/GST reports; export cleanly to Excel for tie‑outs.
Sandbox practice: Rehearse changes safely. Keep a personal playbook of steps and impacts.
Track regulatory change: E‑invoicing mandates, digital reporting, rate shifts—log system impacts early.
How to Display SAP Skills on Your Resume
7. Oracle
Oracle offers database and ERP cloud tools that store financial data, apply tax logic, and power reporting at scale.
Why It's Important
You can process big volumes of transactions accurately, standardize tax calculations, and produce defensible reports for management and regulators.
How to Improve Oracle Skills
Learn the tax engine: Understand how tax rates, jurisdictions, and rules are configured and applied in Oracle ERP.
Get comfortable with reporting: Build and tweak reports and dashboards so tax provision and compliance data are at your fingertips.
Tighten integrations: Ensure accounting, billing, and tax systems pass clean data automatically, not via manual spreadsheets.
Data quality first: Reconcile source systems routinely; use validation checks to catch oddities early.
Security and roles: Set least‑privilege access and audit trails for financial and tax objects.
Keep skills fresh: Track quarterly release notes and test changes before they reach production.
How to Display Oracle Skills on Your Resume
8. Lacerte
Lacerte is professional tax software from Intuit for complex individual and business returns.
Why It's Important
It handles tough scenarios—K‑1s, multi‑state, depreciation—with strong diagnostics and time‑saving workflow tools.
How to Improve Lacerte Skills
Know the shortcuts: Keyboard commands, global search, and jump‑to fields shave hours off prep.
Harness organizers and e‑sign: Standardize client intake and speed approvals.
Push data forward: Use carryforwards and K‑1 transfers so prior‑year work pays dividends.
Review like a hawk: Resolve every diagnostic; add preparer notes where judgment calls live.
Batch workflows: Batch print, e‑file, and acknowledgment tracking keep volume manageable.
How to Display Lacerte Skills on Your Resume
9. ProConnect
ProConnect is Intuit’s cloud tax suite for professionals, built to link smoothly with client documents and accounting data.
Why It's Important
Cloud access, collaboration, and up‑to‑date forms mean faster prep and fewer versioning headaches.
How to Improve ProConnect Skills
Link the ecosystem: Connect client books, document upload, and e‑signature so data moves, not you.
Use templates: Standardize common return types and review steps. Less guesswork, more throughput.
Master diagnostics: Work the error and warning queues daily. Clear, document, proceed.
Collaborate with care: Assign roles, track comments, and lock finalized sections to prevent churn.
Scale smartly: Batch process filings and acknowledgments during peak weeks.
How to Display ProConnect Skills on Your Resume
10. Drake Software
Drake Software is professional tax prep software known for speed, reliability, and broad form coverage.
Why It's Important
It supports high‑volume environments with sturdy diagnostics, strong e‑file workflows, and practical planning tools.
How to Improve Drake Software Skills
Practice speed with accuracy: Learn hotkeys, form jumps, and data entry patterns.
Exploit EF messages: Clean up e‑file rejects systematically; document fixes once, apply many times.
Use Drake Documents and portals: Centralize files, request items, and keep client exchanges audited.
Planner and organizer: Build tax planning scenarios and annual organizers so conversations stay proactive.
Batch the busywork: Batch print, archive, and transmit to retain sanity during deadlines.
How to Display Drake Software Skills on Your Resume
11. Xero
Xero is cloud accounting for small and mid‑size businesses, with live bank feeds, invoicing, payroll add‑ons, and tax‑ready reports.
Why It's Important
Real‑time books mean fewer year‑end surprises and cleaner inputs for returns.
How to Improve Xero Skills
Set precise bank rules: Make reconciliations nearly automatic; review exceptions only.
Capture source docs: Attach receipts to transactions and keep support one click away.
Use tracking categories: Segment by location, project, or class to prep multi‑line tax schedules faster.
Tune reports: Save custom P&L and balance sheet layouts that mirror tax return groupings.
Sync with tax prep: Establish a consistent export/import routine with your chosen tax software.
How to Display Xero Skills on Your Resume
12. ATX
ATX is professional tax preparation software used by firms to complete individual and business returns efficiently.
Why It's Important
It offers deep form libraries, strong diagnostics, and reliable e‑file management that keep work humming.
How to Improve ATX Skills
Own the forms universe: Learn search, favorites, and linked forms so you move quickly across a return.
Build templates: Use master forms and standard notes for common entities and elections.
Diagnostics early, not late: Clear warnings as you go; add tickmarks or notes for reviewers.
Batch processing: Batch print, archive, and transmit to reduce context switching.
E‑file center fluency: Track statuses, handle rejects, and keep acknowledgments organized.
Keep a change log: Document assumptions and adjustments so amendments aren’t a mystery later.
How to Display ATX Skills on Your Resume
