TTPP 10: How to Write Good-Quality and Practical Tax Advice

As a tax professional, you’ll almost inevitably have to provide advice at some point in your career.

And where advice is provided, you’ll likely need to be able to convey it in writing, too.

It is different skill being able to communicate advice in writing than verbally. Once your words are in writing, there is an exact record of the advice provided, and as it is likely that multiple people will read it, it is paramount that it is technically correct and easy to follow.

There are also other considerations too, if you want to provide the best advice possible. It must be clear, tailored to your audience, practical, and commercial. So, there’s a lot to consider all at once.

Saying that, providing good quality, practical tax advice in writing can definitely be learnt, developed and honed!

I’m naturally more numbers based (I did a maths degree for a reason!) and writing is something I’ve had to work hard to become better at. For me, it takes a lot of concentration and mental energy.

But like me, you’ll be able to become much better over time, with effort, focus and practice. If I can do it, you definitely can too!

You’ll be able to take what’s said in this episode and use it with your own writing, to help you provide quality written tax advice.

What’s said in this episode is what I’ve found useful based on my own experiences and knowledge. I’m in no way an expert at writing advice but I’ve learnt so much since I started working in tax. I’ve still got plenty more to learn and improve at (I think it’s one of those skills you can always be better at!), but I believe sharing what I’ve learnt and experienced to date will help you to improve.

Take a listen to find out more!

You’ll Learn:

• The approach I recommend you take to write good quality tax advice

• What you should do before and after writing the advice

• How to become quicker at writing advice

• Some final tips to help you become better at writing tax advice

Related Episodes from the Podcast

• TTPP 1: How to Undertake Effective Tax Research

• TTPP 3: How to Obtain Good Quality Feedback (and Why You Should Ask for More!)

• TTPP 6: How to Build and Maintain Strong Tax Knowledge to Excel as a Tax Professional

Resources

• Eats, Shoots and Leave book by Lynne Truss (a book to help you master correct punctuation, if you prefer books – I know I do!)
  
  Just to note, if you purchase through this link, you will support the podcast as Amazon will make a small referral payment to me at no additional cost to you.

• Free apostrophe guides:
  
  • https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/apostrophe.html
  • For Acronyms in particular: here
    

• Free guide to avoid comma splicing: here

• Skill Share (where you can improve your skills from from online courses, covering everything from Excel (and other hard skills) to business writing (and other soft skills!). You can get access to all of their courses for free two months by signing up with this link: 2 Free Months of Skill Share.
  
  Just to note, by signing up for the free 2 months through this link, you will support the podcast, as Skill Share will make a small referral payment to me, at no cost (and no additional cost if you decide to continue to use after the free two months) to you.

Call to Action

Try applying the approach suggested in the episode the next time you write tax advice!