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The differences between tax interns and tax specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a tax specialist has an average salary of $57,168, which is higher than the $46,283 average annual salary of a tax internship.
The top three skills for a tax internship include first hand, CPA and taxation. The most important skills for a tax specialist are IRS, customer service, and tax compliance.
| Tax Internship | Tax Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $46,283 | $57,168 |
| Hourly rate | $22.25 | $27.48 |
| Growth rate | 6% | -7% |
| Number of jobs | 71,991 | 46,937 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 57% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A tax intern is responsible for supporting the finance and accounting department on preparing tax documents, including analyzing financial statements and performing account reconciliations, under the supervision of a tenured tax preparer. Tax interns observe tax processes, shadowing the staff on daily operations, and utilizing their classroom knowledge to practical applications by recommending strategic procedures to handle tax filings efficiently and accurately. A tax intern must have excellent knowledge of the financial industry, as well as high-organizational skills on processing paper works and following instructions from the tax consultant.
A tax specialist is responsible for handling the tax compliance and correspondence of an organization, finalizing tax audits, and resolving discrepancies. Tax specialists should have excellent knowledge of tax laws and federal regulations, ensuring the accuracy of tax statements, and filing it accurately and efficiently. They should also be highly-analytical and communicative, especially on explaining tax-related documents to the management or the clients, as well as analyzing tax computations and managing the company's financial transactions.
Tax interns and tax specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Tax Internship | Tax Specialist | |
| Average salary | $46,283 | $57,168 |
| Salary range | Between $30,000 And $71,000 | Between $36,000 And $88,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Stamford, CT |
| Highest paying state | - | Rhode Island |
| Best paying company | - | STMicroelectronics |
| Best paying industry | - | Finance |
There are a few differences between a tax internship and a tax specialist in terms of educational background:
| Tax Internship | Tax Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 57% |
| Most common major | Accounting | Accounting |
| Most common college | University of Southern California | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between tax interns' and tax specialists' demographics:
| Tax Internship | Tax Specialist | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 53.6% Female, 46.4% | Male, 30.8% Female, 69.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 14.1% Asian, 11.4% White, 61.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% | Black or African American, 10.5% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 17.8% Asian, 10.0% White, 57.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 8% |