Suzanne DeWitt’s Advice For A Happy Law Career: Study Tax Law

Suzanne DeWitt is the founder and managing partner of DEWITT PLLC. With over 21 years of experience in international tax and private wealth planning, she is an expert in the areas of global tax minimization and cross-border wealth planning and implementation.

Suzanne recently shared a list of reasons as to why practicing Tax Law leads to a happy practice.

• The Area of Tax Law is NOT What You Think: For starters, the practice of tax law is quite distinct and separate from the field of accounting and tax preparation (more on that later). The most highly successful tax lawyers are those who achieve a delicate balance between being artistic and creative, have a practical business sense, and ultimately, the knowledge to be able to actually execute on business-oriented tax planning strategies. A tax attorney will produce sophisticated, tax-efficient structures for a variety of things from complex U.S and global transactions, to private wealth planning for high net-worth individuals and family-owned, closely-held businesses.
• Earn Great Income: While there are an abundance of excellent reasons to pursue tax law, at the end of the day, financial freedom is the most attractive reason to pursue most careers. It is well-reported that tax lawyers consistently earn large salaries. Are there legal fields that offer larger salaries? Sure! Litigation lawyers, for example, likely make more money than tax lawyers. However, considering that tax law is less stressful and comes with advantages by way of a more flexible schedule and more stability, among other things, the trade-off is well worth it. And this transitions perfectly into the next reason you should consider lax law.
• Did I Mention a Healthy Lifestyle?: Health and wellness certainly top most people’s list when deciding on a career path. While any law practice can be more time consuming than any job outside the legal sector, tax law manages to find that middle ground which provides the ability to control your own work-life balance.
• Trust Me, Tax Law CAN Be Fulfilling: Contrary to popular belief, tax lawyers can make a substantial difference in their clients’ lives apart from just saving them money by reducing their taxes. Because tax law can be extremely confusing to any business owner, lending your services to struggling local businesses that may not have the resources to understand these complex laws and situations on their own can be the last resort for keeping those businesses afloat, especially in difficult times, like a global pandemic.
• You’ll Have Stability, But You WILL NOT Be Bored: As the saying goes, there are only two guarantees in life: death and taxes. While this is certainly a bit dark, it’s not entirely wrong. That said, as long as people are taxed there will be a need for tax lawyers. This will provide a secure and stable career path in life. While it may sound unlikely at first, tax law can be fascinating. Minor changes in the tax world can have massive effects in the economic landscape at large. In the area of tax policy, tax lawyers are the go-to advisors for helping clients develop forward-looking, cutting-edge strategies to respond to changing tax laws and regulations. So while you’ll be greatly serving your client, you will also work on some of the most influential laws in the country.
• Tax Planning is NOT Tax Preparation: Tax preparation is accomplished by tax preparers who are competent professionals who understand tax reporting. The preparation of tax returns involves detailed reporting of what happened during the business year after the year is over. A tax preparer is a historian. Indeed, a tax preparer is an integral cog in any client’s tax planning wheel. A tax preparer would also be deployed to assist in implementing some of the recommendations within the business owner’s customized tax plan.
• You REALLY CAN Pick Your Own Adventure: Because everyone (and virtually everything) gets taxed, multiple sectors will have the need for tax lawyers. This opens up the opportunity for market specialization as well as job variety. Prospective tax lawyers can feel free to look at this career path as a ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ game. Whether you choose to work with a small business, a multi-national corporation, something in the private sector or the federal sector, the options are endless.
• You’ll Always Grow (Whether You Want to or Not…): Due to its very nature, tax law is inherently political, largely dependent on legislative grace and therefore, always evolving. This means that you have the chance to become an expert with vast knowledge of a particular landscape that is in constant fluctuation. As you accumulate your degrees and certificates in this challenging field, you will begin to make a name for yourself and climb the ladder within this very specialized field of tax law.

To learn more about Suzanne DeWitt’s practice and her expertise in tax law, CLICK HERE.