Ok. So, you ask what a tax accountant is. The short answer, a Tax Accountant is someone who has been train in preparing income tax returns and is an Accountant. Thus, the term Tax Accountant refer to someone that specialize in the tax laws, rules, and regulations.

Ideally, a Tax Accountant training must include any of the following.

• An Attorney
• CPA – Certified Public Accountant
• Enrolled Agent
• Tax Practitioner

These are the four categories of people the IRS considers preparing taxes and represent their clients. The list of people practicing before the IRS is much longer. See Publication 947 (02/2018), Practice Before the IRS and Power of Attorney | Internal Revenue Service

However, a Tax Accountant must know tax laws as well as General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Sixty percent (60%) of tax filing deals with tax laws and the other forty percent (40%) deals with accounting.

So then, a Tax Accounting is someone with adequate knowledge of tax laws as well as General Accepted Accounting Principles. These two qualities are not mutually exclusive.