Tax: assistant

Jen Scammell is a tax assistant, corporate tax at KPMG. She studied accounting & finance at the University of Southampton. She is a CIOT/ICAS trainee.

I chose to do a tax module as part of my degree course and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. While at university I worked part time for a local self-employed accountant who specialised in preparing tax returns for small businesses. Applying for a job in tax with a larger firm once I had finished my degree seemed like a natural progression. Because tax is such a broad area there is always scope to improve your knowledge while becoming a specialist in your particular field.

My job

My role is to assist more senior members of the team with both corporate tax compliance and drafting replies to ad-hoc queries from the client. My responsibilities are preparing tax computations and returns for submission to HMRC, which involves telephone calls or meetings with the client to ensure all of the relevant information is obtained, and researching tax technical issues.

Double qualifications

I am currently training for my chartered tax advisor and chartered accountant qualifications. The exams are tough but my colleagues are very supportive, and I know at the end of it I will have two professional qualifications, which will make all of the hard work worthwhile.