The people who understand the tax code: preparing returns, planning strategies, auditing and collecting what's owed.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Tax Partner (Accounting Firm): A senior owner at an accounting firm who advises wealthy families and large companies on complex tax strategy. Typical pay $400k.
Corporate Tax Director: Leads a company's tax department, minimizing taxes legally and keeping it out of trouble. Typical pay $190k.
Transfer Pricing Economist: Decides fair prices for goods and services that a global company sells between its own subsidiaries, a huge tax issue. Typical pay $145k.
Tax Attorney: A lawyer who specializes in tax law, from planning deals to fighting the IRS in court. Typical pay $170k.
State & Local Tax (SALT) Manager: Manages a company's taxes across all 50 states and thousands of cities, which each have their own rules. Typical pay $130k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Tax Accountant: Prepares tax returns and plans ways for people and businesses to pay less tax legally. Typical pay $80k.
Enrolled Agent: A tax expert licensed by the IRS who can prepare returns and represent people in IRS audits and disputes. Typical pay $65k.
IRS Revenue Agent: Audits the tax returns of businesses and wealthy people for the federal government. Typical pay $85k.
Property Tax Consultant: Fights to lower property tax bills for businesses and homeowners by challenging assessments. Typical pay $85k.
Sales Tax / Indirect Tax Analyst: Makes sure a company charges, collects and pays the right sales and use taxes. Typical pay $75k.
Tax Technology Specialist: Builds and runs the software and data systems that tax departments use. Typical pay $100k.
R&D Tax Credit Consultant: Helps companies claim tax credits for research and innovation. Typical pay $92k.
Cost Segregation Specialist: Uses engineering to break down a building's cost into parts (carpet, lighting, wiring) so owners save on taxes. Typical pay $90k.
Alcohol & Tobacco Tax Specialist: Works for the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau checking that breweries, distilleries and tobacco makers pay their taxes. Typical pay $80k.
Tax Examiner / Collector: Reviews simpler tax returns and collects unpaid taxes for federal, state or local governments. Typical pay $58k.
Payroll Tax Specialist: Makes sure the taxes taken out of paychecks are correct and paid to the government on time. Typical pay $55k.
Tax Resolution Specialist: Helps people and businesses who owe the IRS money, negotiating payment plans or settlements. Typical pay $70k.
Crypto Tax Specialist: Figures out the taxes people and companies owe on Bitcoin, NFTs and other crypto activity. Typical pay $90k.
Trust & Estate Tax Specialist: Prepares tax returns for trusts and the estates of people who have died. Typical pay $88k.
Tax Provision Analyst: Calculates how much income tax a company should report in its financial statements each quarter. Typical pay $92k.
Duty Drawback Specialist: Wins back import taxes (tariffs) for companies when the imported goods, or products made from them, are later exported or destroyed. Typical pay $82k.
Fuel Tax (IFTA) Auditor: Audits trucking companies to make sure they paid the right fuel taxes to every state and Canadian province their trucks drove through. Typical pay $70k.
Expat Tax Specialist: Prepares tax returns for Americans living abroad and foreigners working in the US, who face complicated rules from two countries. Typical pay $82k.
Film Tax Incentive Specialist: Helps movie and TV productions claim state tax credits for filming in places like Georgia, New Mexico and New York, which can cover a quarter of costs. Typical pay $88k.
Starter: fastest way in
Tax Preparer: Prepares individual tax returns, often at seasonal offices or small firms. Typical pay $50k.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.