Does being a tax junior suck this much everywhere? Forum

[Anonymous User]

What's the difference between tax planning and deal support work? I had always thought deal support is part of tax planning.

Deal support is a form of planning, but the posters are talking about planning work that is independent of a pending deal. For example, re-configuring a company's foreign holding structure in the wake of tax reform. Typically, there isn't a hard deadline for such work and its driven by the tax organisation (rather than a deal team).

Is deal support or tax planning that isn't related to deal work better for career development/learning?

[nealric]

What's the difference between tax planning and deal support work? I had always thought deal support is part of tax planning.

Deal support is a form of planning, but the posters are talking about planning work that is independent of a pending deal. For example, re-configuring a company's foreign holding structure in the wake of tax reform. Typically, there isn't a hard deadline for such work and its driven by the tax organisation (rather than a deal team).

Is deal support or tax planning that isn't related to deal work better for career development/learning?

Tax planning is better for becoming a "Code head"- i.e. a technical tax expert. Deal support is better for general lawyering and negotiation skills, as well as understanding the underlying business imperatives. One isn't necessarily better than the other- just depends what you are naturally good at and what you want to do.