5 things i learned after my first tax busy season | 2021 tax busy szn

Hi hi!!

If you’ve been following the blog for the past couple weeks, you know I’ve been counting down the days to 4/15 – today!! What a glorious day: it was sooo sunny in Seattle right now and honestly all day at work everyone was distracted and just ready to start their post-4/15 PTO plans. One of my good friends at work said it felt like the day before summer vacation and I 100% couldn’t agree more.

Today I thought it’d be fun to share five things I learned after going through my first tax busy season. Obviously I learned a ton of tax technical topics, but I won’t be sharing those here 😉 For those who don’t know, there will be another busy season around October 15 since that’s when the extensions are due. Apparently fall busy season isn’t as crazy but I’ll keep y’all posted! This will probably be the last of my 2021 tax busy szn series (until next year!).

1. the definition of being ‘detail-oriented’

I’m just thinking back to the days when I was submitting my resumes for internships and had “detail-oriented” as one of my skills/characteristics. I’m laughing now because being a tax return preparer and having multiple other people reviewing my work has taught me that being detail-oriented has a WHOLE ‘nother meaning, especially during a time-sensitive period such as busy season. Being aware of minute details in tax definitely comes with experience and time, but it’s been very humbling to know that I have so much to learn and get better at in my job.

2. not getting enough sleep helps noooo one.

There were definitely a few nights during busy season where I thought I’d have to (and did) stay up until midnight to finish something, and let me tell you, not getting enough sleep or pulling a late-nighter helps noooo one. I’ll keep preaching about sleep until the day I die at this point, but let me explain: once I stay up too late, I end up being groggy, tired, less efficient, and NOT detail-oriented (see above) the next day, and then I end up making dumb mistakes that I probably could have avoided had I gotten enough sleep. This probably made my reviewer’s work harder and/or take more time.

3. working (virtually) alongside friends boosts work morale by 4183107% :’)

Okay here me out: if you don’t have a ton of meetings during your work day, I hiiighly recommend hopping on a Zoom call with your work friends and just working, even if everyone’s on mute. This 200% got me through busy season, especially when working later in the evenings. It was so nice to have company and bounce questions off of one another, and occasionally just chat. It boosted my work morale so much and I can’t thank my work pals enough :’)

4. communicate when you feel overwhelmed.

This one is easier said then done, but I promise it’s so so worth it. There were a few times where I felt like I had too much on my plate and hesitated to tell someone that I was overwhelmed. Too many instances, I didn’t want to disappoint anyone by shifting my work around, but honestly telling a mentor/my direct manager helped so much. They wanted to keep me happy while working and prevent burnout, and I needed to move some work off my plate – it just helps everyone. I promise it’s a win-win!!

5. busy season flies by & won’t last forever!!

I’ll need to remind myself of this again next year I’m sure when I’m in the weeds and feel like it’ll never end, but honestly I feel like busy season FLEW by. Everyday is a grind and even though it’s kind of just work and sleep on repeat for a few weeks, it’s over before you know it. It feels so weird to have free time again, haha.

Most everyone in tax collectively takes PTO the day after 4/15, so you can bet I’ll be lounging in the sun everyday this weekend in Seattle. No travel plans yet until I’m vaccinated, but hopefully soon!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jen x