Taxation Careers go Bullish
It is the best of times and it is the worst of times. The budget 2018 comes as a mixed bag. It is the first union Budget after the implementation of GST in July 2017. After its implementation, most provisions of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) were tweaked and tax rates of numerous products were reduced in subsequent GST council meets which resulted in a sharp decline in government’s tax collection figures.GST replaced more than a dozen indirect taxes; these indirect taxes together formed a bulk of the government’s earnings. Service tax alone accounted for more than 14% of the government’s revenue in the last Budget in 2017. .Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who is also the GST Council Chief has stated that this year’s budget will provide further opportunity for him to address issues related to GST and also to further tweak the GST rates. Almost every sector desires a rate cut in the GST rates but probably only a few of these expectations will be met on the budget day given the precarious fiscal situation that the FM has to deal with. This may sound precarious, but looking at it from a careers perspective, it opens a tangent to job opportunities in the accountancy and taxation consultancy field.
Let us take a look:
Tax Consultant:
The new budget creates a spurt of opportunities for taxation consultants. Tax advisors have an important role to play in advising clients on the tax implications arising out of business transactions and ensuring that clients are well versed with tax laws, Various other sectors like e-commerce, retailing, manufacturing, services, logistics, supply chain, banking and financial sector will see a substantial rise in the job opportunities in the upcoming season. Many large corporates have set up special GST cells internally to deal with the new tax regime.
What does a tax consultant do?
Tax consultant, also known as a tax advisor, is an expert in tax law, planning and compliance. He serves businesses and individuals alike by staying current on new tax law and positioning taxpayers for short and long term tax optimization. A tax consultant typically expands on the role of tax preparer. While tax consultants prepare tax returns, they also often work closely with clients throughout the year to ensure client tax liability is minimized. Tax consultants are strong written and verbal communicators able to explain tax law and strategies in a way that is accessible and easy for clients to understand. Tax consultants work for public accounting firms, law offices, financial consulting firms and many even have their own independent tax preparation and consultation businesses. In all settings, tax consultants can be expected to perform duties that include:
- Conducting research on tax laws
- Strategizing with clients to minimize tax liability
- Communicating with clients to explain tax issues
- Preparing tax returns
- Estate planning
- Keeping clients compliant with their tax obligations
Producing written content is a significant part of the job, as tax consultants must communicate their research findings including changes in tax laws that create opportunities for new tax strategies. Because a tax consultant may have many clients affected by the same issue, the ability to draft a well-written and concise letter is often the most effective means of disseminating information to a number of different clients.
Examinations:
To be a tax consultant, you need to be a commerce graduate. You will need to get into a professional course like CA, ICWAI or MBA followed by a Tax Consultancy course. One can opt for various courses in Taxation that are very attractive and have a great knowledge and training in taxation. Some of the courses that can be done are the certification course in taxation, degree course in taxation, doctorate level course.
Institute scape
- Cosmic Business school, New Delhi
- St. Peter’s College, Kochi
- I.G.SS, Bangalore
- Nagpur College of Taxation, Nagpur
- St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata
- Symbiosis Law School
- India Law Society Law College
- Balaji Law College, Pune
- Arihant Education Foundations, Arihant College of Commerce, Pune
Institutes and Certificate Courses:
To cope up with the ongoing changes in GST and bring greater awareness about the new tax proposals and policy, the Indirect Taxes Committee of the ICAI has introduced the Certificate Course on GST. The objective of this Course is to enhance the knowledge as well as to provide benefit to the members in the global service market. It aims to facilitate the members in industry as well as in practice by:providing specialized and updated knowledge in the area of GST in a systematic manner and enhancing analytical and problem solving skills for decision making. All the members of the ICAI ie:”chartered accountant” who is a member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India constituted under this Act 1949) are eligible for this course which is of 10 days duration available in two options – weekends and weekdays from Mon to Fri.
Cleartax :
It offers a comprehensive learning program for CAs, CS, Law practitioners, legal consultants or on GST prepared by various indirect tax experts. You can grasp basic to the most advanced concepts of GST supported by e-learning videos, quiz and webinars to respond to the queries.
TaxGuru :
Various batches for Online Certification Courses are being organised by the GST professionals and Taxguru to make people understand this new taxation system in the best way.
ChalkStreet :
A solution for tax professionals,legal consultants, accountants,students or even a casual taxable person.This comes loaded with a number of useful videos,pdf files, webinars and tests as well.
GST Centre :
You shall get a whole range of GST courses and Diplomas in GST like a beginners course, an intermediate course, an expertise course or a business management course.
ICT Academy :
ICT Academy is an initiative of Government of India and has been selected by NACEN, Government of India for undertaking training on GST.
Newer Avenues:
In this journey towards a newer tax regime, fresh avenues have started blooming which has brought about a 20% average growth rate of niche tax firms.
Boutique Tax firms:
The complexity of GST is being taken up seriously by companies who want to avert all sorts of associated risks. The timing is certainly apt for carving out a niche for all the boutique tax firms in India and the increasing need for tax consultants. Most of the organizations have started discussing taxation in boardrooms trying to mitigate any risk arising out of it. This increased focus because of the associated complexity has increased the involvement of senior tax experts. In SMEs and promoter driven organizations, preference for boutique and smaller firms have been there for many years as they are skeptical of sharing all confidential information which includes their personal taxation data with the larger firms.
Additionally, senior level personalized attention by hand holding the promoters by Take for example, consultancy firm Ernst & Young India. In its Indirect Tax practice, the firm has seen over 60 per cent increase in hiring. Almost all our Indirect Tax hiring in FY2017 was GST related.
Therefore, for all those who are in accountancy, taxation, and financial management, there are some exciting times ahead.
