About Tax / Tax Academy

As you are a student who will probably graduate next year, you want to decide what the right career is for you. We would like to suggest an option you may not have thought about, but which can give you many good opportunities.

Tax is a very important part of business in South Africa and in the world. In fact, you will usually find that paying tax is the biggest expense in any business. This is why the tax profession includes so many different kinds of work; it is also one of the most interesting professions to be in today. Tax consultants very often need to make important decisions. You will base your decisions on your knowledge as a tax expert; sometimes you will need to solve unusual financial problems. If you have a career in tax, and you know all about laws like the Income Tax Act, you could choose to go into many other different careers. A career in tax will help you to understand how a business needs to be planned and managed.

A tax practitioner is a person who works with tax in a business. Although tax practitioners need to be registered with the South African Revenue Service (SARS), there is no qualification for the whole of the tax profession in South Africa.

There have been many recent changes in the law and developments in the country. As a result, our clients and government officials need up-to-date advice about tax. They demand that this advice must be provided by people who have the proper training and skills, and high-level abilities. However, there are not enough top-class tax consultants, and this shortage will probably be worse in the future.

We want to help by developing tax experts for the future. We at PwC believe that success must be built on a solid foundation. Tax consultants must understand the basic theories of tax, and how to put these theories into practice. They must know how to apply tax theories and practices in business. That is why we set up the PwC Tax Academy in 2007, so that our people can prepare for the best and brightest future.