When I was starting out in the mid-1980’s people with degrees didn’t choose to go into tax. Tax wasn’t on anyone’s radar. It was something you came across if you were working in a parallel profession such as accountancy, law or finance. When I left university to train as an accountant part of the experience entailed a six month secondment to the firm’s tax department. I enjoyed it from day one! It was a good fit for me. The work was more conceptual than I had experienced to date and I loved the buzz. As my tour of duty came to an end and a life in auditing loomed, I threw myself on the mercy of the tax manager and asked for sanctuary. His generous response sealed my fate.
Things have moved on from the 1980’s. The gold standard professional qualification for taxation attained chartered status back in 1994 and These days you can take a degree in the discipline and it is now perfectly possible to work in a tax consultancy where the directors are all chartered tax advisers rather than accountants or solicitors but nevertheless employ accountants and solicitors. Ironically, the very opposite of the position when I started out.
