Tax Accountant Interview Questions in United States
In a Tax Accountant interview, the hiring manager is likely to ask you questions related to your training, certifications, and ability to prepare annual tax statements. They may also assess your mathematical and technical skills, including your ability to create accurate reports and identify errors in bookkeeping, which are all important tax accountant tasks.
Top Tax Accountant Interview Questions & How to Answer
Here are three top tax accountant interview questions and how to answer them:
Question #1: Walk me through your process of creating a forecasting report for next year's return.
How to answer: This question tests your knowledge of what information and resources you need to create and analyze a forecasting report. Be sure to include the steps you take when working with a client, processing numbers, checking for errors, and reporting tax information.
Question #2: How do you stay up-to-date on the latest regulations?
How to answer: Provide the hiring manager with information about the publications that you read or conferences that you attend to ensure you have the latest information on state and federal tax regulations. You might also use this opportunity to discuss any additional accounting or tax training you plan to receive.
Question #3: Tell me about a time when you went above a client's expectations
How to answer: This open-ended question allows you to highlight your customer service skills. You can use this question to describe a situation using the STAR technique, in which you used communication skills to understand your client's needs and then provided them with a result greater than what they expected.
Imagine you make a very complicated calculation in excel for a client who is going to make a decision. After you reviewed it a couple of times you notice you are going to save the client $10 million in taxes. You give it to your senior and your partner, who review your work. They agree on your calculation and tell the client about the tax savings and the meeting to finalize the transaction is tomorrow. It's 9 o'clock at night and you are finalizing the paperwork, and you suddenly realize you made a careless mistake on excel and instead of putting a minus, you put a plus, so the client is not going to save $10 million, but is going to owe $10 million. What do you do? How do you handle the situation?
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Firstly, tell your partner and senior about it. After that, finalize the paperwork and bring it to your client's house. Talk to your client and just tell your client that you've made a mistake and tell your client the correct info Less
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Start looking for a new job as soon as possible.
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Answer: Everyone makes mistakes and you have to acknowledge it in a humble way. Tell the senior or the partner of the mistake as soon as possible, so they can help you minimize the damage. Less
If you found a number that is wrong, what are some reasons do you think there could be for that mistake to happen?
2 Answers↳
Incorrect info provided or employee typo mistake.
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Transposition error.
Tell me about yourself
1 Answers↳
I told them about how my schooling will help me grow into the company
What's your five year plan?
1 Answers↳
I wanted to stay in Oklahoma and grow my career in oil and gas.