Tax-clerk-training and further education, tasks and salary

Like doctors and lawyers, tax consultants are dependent on qualified support from specialists – tax clerks. The profession of tax clerk is attractive and future-proof, but unfortunately little known. We would therefore like to introduce you to the job profile of a tax clerk in more detail.

Training and examination to become a tax clerk

Working as a tax clerk begins with training in a training company, usually a tax office. There, trainees learn how to determine tax bases and prepare income tax returns. Accounting, payroll accounting and sales tax returns are part of the daily bread in the apprenticeship. The trainees learn how to efficiently complete these tasks using different programs and electronic data processing.

The training in the tax office is supplemented by the vocational school, which teaches job-specific basics such as general economics, taxation and accounting. After a training period of 3 years, a final examination must be taken, whoever has passed the examination may then use the official qualification as tax clerk or tax clerk and look out for corresponding job offers.

Tax clerk: job description and tasks

As a tax clerk in the tax office, you usually support one or more tax consultants in providing tax and business support and advice to clients. You are in close contact with the clients themselves, provide information on the phone, keep in touch with tax offices or social security agencies, prepare proper accounting from invoices, receipts and account statements, plan appointments and ensure that all deadlines are met. Wage and salary slips, tax returns and tax assessments, all of this is done in digital form today, the daily work of a tax clerk is strongly influenced by digitization in tax consulting.

Of course, the area of responsibility of a tax clerk depends on the tax office in question. In a kind of all-round support for a client, you take care of the ongoing bookkeeping and payroll accounting, prepare tax returns and annual financial statements. Complex mandates are usually processed in a team, and you are assigned a sub-area such as correspondence with health insurance companies and tax offices or the examination of tax assessments for the tax consultant. Special highlights are then the discussion of the annual financial statements with the clients on site or the attendance of events such as training fairs or start-up events. The image of the accountant in the dusty room has long since become obsolete, the work of a tax clerk in a modern tax office is varied, diverse and, despite digitalization, characterized by contact with many people.

Further training and opportunities as a tax clerk

Only a few professions offer such a wide range of further training opportunities as the tax clerk , with the appropriate ambitions and requirements you can make it to the tax consultant and then become a partner in the management of a large law firm or set up your own law firm as a self-employed tax consultant. If you don’t want to go that far as a tax clerk, you still have a lot of options.

The tax specialist is one of the many further training courses with attractive prospects, but you must have gained three years of professional experience after the training. Tax specialists usually work very closely with their superiors and in some cases already assume a great deal of responsibility for their law firm. The tax specialist must have a thorough command of topics such as business administration, accounting and tax law and apply this knowledge on a daily basis.

The accountant is another career option for tax clerks with a slightly different focus. Accountants who have completed their training typically take on tasks at the interface between accounting and business administration in their professional practice. The controller broadens the perspective of the accountant again and uses his knowledge in the areas of tax law, cost accounting and financial management for a greatly expanded range of tasks. A controller independently checks the balance sheets and data of a company and prepares them for management. Controllers are often also responsible for controlling and planning projects and provide management with information as a basis for strategic decisions.

Studying after the apprenticeship is also possible and not uncommon, a corresponding school certificate is of course a prerequisite. At the university, perspectives open up such as a bachelor’s degree in tax and auditing with the prospect of a responsible job in the law firm and a further increase in salary. Self-employment is not the silver bullet for everyone, but after passing the tax consultant exam you can also become self-employed and open a law firm as a self-employed tax consultant or with other qualified employees in the tax and economic area.

How popular are tax clerks?

As a tax clerk you are in high demand, and nothing will change that any time soon. In the field of tax advice, there is a shortage of specialists throughout Germany, and industry experts assume that tax experts will continue to be in high demand. Tax clerk is therefore definitely a profession with a future and excellent further training and development opportunities in a law firm, but also directly in the company in a wide variety of positions. The activities are diverse, attractive and challenging – the profession of tax clerk enjoys a high reputation.
The Federal Institute for Vocational Training keeps a nationwide list of 325 recognized training courses, the training occupation tax clerk is one of the 22 most popular. The popularity is even greater among women, where the training even occupies 11th place in the ranking. When choosing a training position, it is extremely important how digital a tax office is and how strongly the training company faces the challenges of digital transformation and actively shapes them. Tax clerk is a profession with a future that will continue to change over the next few years as a result of digitization. The need for skilled workers continues to rise and makes the profession of tax clerk one of the most sought-after jobs on the job market.

Vacancies, jobs and application as a tax clerk

Tax clerks have a relatively easy time looking for a job and often find a job in their new place of residence very quickly after moving to a new environment. Potential employers are tax offices or medium-sized companies up to large corporations. Today, job advertisements are mostly found on the Internet, either on relevant portals or on the websites of the law firms themselves. If you combine the name of your city with the term tax clerk in a Google search, you will quickly end up on the career pages of large law firms, which are looking for new employees there and offering vacancies. If you are looking for a job as a tax clerk in the area in this way, you can take a closer look at the law firm and check the degree of digitization and the sympathy factor directly. The application is usually already in digital form, if not, a new Google search is recommended. A modern and digitally working tax office will always provide a digital way for the application as a tax clerk or it is just not as digital as it claims.

Is tax clerk a good job with a future?

Definitely! The profession of tax clerk may not sound particularly exciting at first, but we have just found out how diverse and totally exciting the job description is, what further training opportunities there are that open up additional opportunities on the job market. The salary of a tax clerk is good, the earning potential increases with professional experience, as everywhere, large companies in the city pay higher salaries than smaller law firms in rural areas. Everyone has to decide for themselves whether the higher salary in the big city is not quickly eaten up by the higher cost of living.

Conclusion: As a tax clerk you are a real specialist and specialists are always in demand. The great demand for tax advice throughout Germany is the result of the high workload of the law firms, which can only expand their capacities in a meaningful way with trained specialists and tax experts. An ongoing change in the business model and the progress of digitization ensure a permanently high demand for well-trained tax clerks.