Rachel Holloway

Name: Rachel Holloway

Current role: Tax Senior

Department: Private Client Tax Services

University: Newcastle upon Tyne

Degree: BA (Hons) Modern Languagues (French, German and Spanish)

I joined the firm as a Trainee in August 2008, having previously worked in Corporate Tax for a Big Four firm.

I am now ATT (Association of Taxation Technicians) and CTA (Chartered Tax Advisor) qualified, having passed my final set of exams in May 2011.  The ATT exams are computation-based and provide a good grounding in tax to enable trainees to carry out their work in the office.  CTA exams are advisory-based and go into much more depth in terms of the knowledge and skills required.  It is essential to pass the ATT and CTA exams to progress within the department and a lot of hard work is required in order to pass them.  Exam success is rewarded through promotion (and the accompanying pay rise) as well as an exam bonus scheme.

Each member of staff within the department is allocated a portfolio of clients.  Upon promotion, a staff member’s client list changes to include more complex cases, reflecting an increased level of tax knowledge and experience.  At Senior level, as well as an increase in the number of more complex tax returns on my preparer list, I also acquired a manager list of clients, whose tax returns are prepared by Trainees or Semi-Seniors and reviewed by me.

Typical work as a Trainee includes preparing tax returns and capital gains tax calculations, corresponding with HM Revenue and Customs via letter or over the telephone, liaising with third parties (e.g. banks) to obtain client tax return information, attending meetings with Directors and in some cases building relationships directly with clients. As my career has progressed, my direct contact with clients has increased and I have also been involved in more tax planning and advisory work.

The run-up to 31 January (the Tax Return submission deadline) is always extremely busy and it is important that everyone in the department helps each other out to ensure that workloads are evenly spread.  Whilst January can be stressful and most people are in the office at weekends as well as during the week, there is a sense of being in it together and there are always plenty of biscuits to keep us going!  There is a great sense of achievement on 31 January when we head to the pub for celebratory drinks and the overtime pay (up to and including Assistant Manager level) is also a nice reward.  Managers upwards are rewarded via bonuses rather than overtime pay.

As for the social side, it is very much according to your preference – you can take part as much or as little as you wish.  Some events are organised but it is never hard to find people to go for a drink after work on a Thursday or Friday.