Tax Graduate Programme 2025

Tax offers a fast-paced career. Every time the law changes or there's a new budget, tax advisors need to get up to speed quickly and adapt their strategies. It's a job in which you'll always be learning and adapting to provide the best quality advice. Tax also provides a stable and lucrative career path, with fast progression and rewarding work.

At Mercer & Hole, all our tax staff work hard to continually stay up to date with the latest legislation and strategies, which is how we provide exceptional service to our clients and maintain our status as a Top 40 firm. We pride ourselves on learning and development for our trainees and have the structure in place to support you on your journey with us, for example, study leave, trainee away days, a dedicated training manager, and a buddy.

Training and development doesn't stop when you qualify – we are committed to continually developing our staff regardless of whether you're a trainee or a director using our 'People Passport'. You can be assured you are guaranteed a great investment in your future

What will I be doing as a tax graduate?

Our tax graduate programme is designed to support your individual learning and development. You will work as part of the private client team while studying the ATT-CTA qualification. You will regularly be out of the office to attend college, which is a really nice bridge between studying for your degree and entering the world of work.

The variety of clients we work with provides you with a well-rounded experience, and the structure of our teams allows you the opportunity to gain knowledge from, and exposure to, senior managers and partners throughout your training and beyond.

Structure of our Tax Graduate Programme

Year 1 – You will have the opportunity to bring your problem-solving skills from higher education to help prepare tax returns from the outset and really get stuck into the work of the team, speaking to HMRC, drafting self-assessment tax returns and cover letters/emails to clients, learning the tax software and workflows as you go. You'll also analyse information provided by clients and other professional advisers, using your investigative skills to find out what further information is required to fill in any gaps.

Year 2 – You will build on your experience gained in your first year of the tax graduate programme and learn new skills such as managing a small client portfolio and applying technical knowledge in more complex areas of tax such as residency and domicile, trusts, reliefs such as EIS/SEIS/VCT. You will also have the opportunity to mentor new trainees while still being supported to achieve your goals.

Year 3 – Having built a good base level of knowledge from the first two years as a tax graduate, you will now start to identify planning opportunities for clients with your manager and assist with giving advice. You'll also be able to complete personal tax computations and returns to an excellent standard, ensuring it is presented to managers in a complete state. You'll have the opportunity to proactively manage client relationships and share technical research with your team at 'sharing knowledge' sessions.

At the end of your third year, you should complete your professional qualification and start to prepare for a role as an Assistant Manager in due course.

If you think this is something you'd be interested in, then do apply

We really want to attract and retain individuals who share our Values

Together

The firm with the family feel. Express gratitude. Smile. Be humble and confident. Have fun.

Resilient

Change is imminent, and business is imperfect. Be open-minded and agile. Assume positive intent and exercise the power of positive thinking.

Each individual matters and will be heard and respected. Honesty, integrity, empathy, and kindness are fundamental.

Supportive

We support what is important to you and show kindness in our behaviour to each other. We encourage each other to realise our potential.

We strive to be the best, innovate, and always do exceptional work. That's who we are and what our clients deserve.

Mercer & Hole is committed to cultivating and preserving a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

Our people are our most valuable asset. We bring our life experiences, knowledge, creativity, and talents together at Mercer & Hole making it a unique place to work where all can safely thrive.

Must have a minimum of 280 UCAS points under the old scoring system or 112 UCAS points under the new system which must comprise of at least 3 A-Levels (excluding general studies) and a minimum 2:2 honours degree or equivalent.