Tatiana Vanden Houte

6.30 AM

I don’t usually wake up this early but today is morning Pilates at the office! I usually leave all my things for the day ready for me to grab and go in the morning because any extra minute of sleep is a win.

All that is left for me to do once I get up is get ready and go! Big headphones on Taylor Swift the whole way to work to get psyched up for the day.

7.30 AM

Being so close to public transport (both train and tram) makes coming into the office so easy (and it’s gorgeous which helps).

7.45 AM

Once a week there is a $5 Pilates class that runs before work and I am a regular attendee! It is such a great way to start the day the instructor, Tracie, has such positive energy. Given I sit at a desk for a lot of the day, this is a great way for me to get in as much movement as I can.

8.45 AM

After Pilates I duck down to the end-of-trip facilities to have a quick shower and change into my work clothes for the day. We have lockers assigned to us so my Pilates bag goes in there before I head to my desk to start my workday!

Once I get to my desk, I set myself up for the day by checking my emails and calendar to see what I need to get done for the day. I still use a paper notebook because I love the feeling of pen to paper so I use it to write down my tasks for the day.

8.50 AM

I am not at my desk long before the Tax Grads MS Teams chat goes off with coffee emojis! I love coming into the office because there is always someone here to catch up with, so at 8:50 we head up to the Hub (our internal café) together and get some FREE coffee (pink cup a daily staple). We usually take this time to catch up on our weekend plans but also discuss what kind of work everyone is getting and what they are enjoying. Tax as a group does such interesting work and there is such a huge variety that it is good to check in with each other to see what is out there at our level that we could get involved with.

Once I am back at my desk, I start making my way through my task list. First up on the agenda is saving and reviewing correspondence. I am working on a company tax return and we had sent out a questionnaire to assist us in preparing their international dealings schedule. Overnight the client responded so I first save the correspondence to the file and then I jump into Tax Manager and update the return with the information they sent through. Once that is done it gets sent off the Senior Analyst I am working with to review.

9.30 AM

Every morning around 9:30 the snacks come out in the kitchen on each level, so I take a quick break to walk (run) to the kitchen. Today there are chips, fruit and cookies on offer. After my Pilates session today, I decided I’ll keep the healthy streak going and opt for an apple.

Back at my desk, my next task of the day is updating some company tax returns for a group I am working on. The manager has reviewed the returns and prepared some queries for me to go through, which is a great way to learn and to fix mistakes you might have made. In tax there is a big focus on continued technical development, so when we do get feedback, it is not just an instruction to fix something, but an explanation of why it needs changing along with any relevant legislation that can help us further develop our understanding.

10.30 AM

The tax returns were priority, so they get done first. Once they are all updated and sent off to the manager for a final review, I turn my attention to my next task: a tax residency analysis piece. This is one I am very excited about getting the opportunity to draft, as International Tax is an area I am very interested in. The client is asking for advice on their tax residency status as someone who has moved from one place to another to another to another. The first thing I start with is reviewing the questionnaire we send out; this will give me all the context I need to start the analysis. Once I have read through everything and prepared the background info, I start going through the residency tests and applying them to the case and typing it all up in a brief for the manager on the job. The training we get in tax gives us a really good understanding of how to access resources and use them for something like this, so I am looking at what the legislation says and prior pieces of analysis we have done in a similar area and using those to support developing a response.

11.30 AM

Before I know it it’s time for coffee number two. This time, an iced latte which I drink at my desk with a little chocolate (I always keep some in my desk drawer). This powers me on for the rest of the morning while I continue drafting the residency piece.

12.30 PM

I usually pack my own lunch from home, but when the Hub has a lasagna special on, I can’t resist! The other Tax Grads have sub-group meetings today, so I head up to level 12 and find some friends to sit with. I love coming to have lunch at the Hub because there are always people there up for a chat. One of my favourite things about the graduate program is how many people you meet and connect with across the experience. I sit with a group of people who work across the firm in different practice areas, we joke around a little and I get to hear about how their rotations are going which is a really great insight to refer back to when thinking about what areas of the firm I want to try in my next rotations.

1.30 PM

After lunch I check in with a Client Director who had reached out to me to assist with a very important payroll tax job. I have found in tax the context and background you receive in the initial meeting is fundamental to understanding the client and the work you are doing for them. This client has a potential exposure to some payroll tax liability so after the meeting I set up a file and save all the documents we are going to need. I get sent the payroll tax annual reconciliations (save those to the file) and I do some preliminary calculations to check the liability the client might be facing. Once that is done, I summarise the position and email the director to review and discuss the next steps.

2.30 PM

The Hub’s variety is truly unmatched so at 2:30 I take a quick break and grab an iced matcha. The subgroup meetings had food leftover (they usually do) and so I grab some fruit they put in the kitchen for people to enjoy on my way back to my desk and settle in for the afternoon. I have a meeting with a manager at 3 so I prepare the documents and the questions I have for them on the job we are doing together. 

3.00 PM

I have a meeting with a manager I am working with, so we jump into one of the focus rooms and I plug my laptop into the screen to walk him through the CGT calculations I prepared. We talk about what changes need to be made, go through the legislation to clarify any areas I misunderstood, and finally end on a figure everyone is confident with. After the meeting I head back to my desk and finalise the calculation, put it into the tax return and then send the whole thing off to be reviewed.

5.15 PM

To finish off my day I check my emails to see what is on the agenda tomorrow and look over the checklist I prepared at the beginning of the day. I compare my checklist to my timesheet and double check I have recorded all my time for the day before I post it. Then I am on my way to the station to catch the train.

6.30 PM

Last weekend was my mom’s birthday so today I head to my grandmother’s house for dinner where we have cake to celebrate!

9.30 PM

I travel back home and get myself set up for the next day, which includes making breakfast and lunch to take with me and checking I have everything I need in my bag for another day of work. I leave my bag packed and everything I need by the front door and then I jump on the couch with my partner to watch the next episode of Succession (yes, we are late to the party).

11.00 PM

Tucked into bed - I need those 8 hours!

Thanks for coming along with me for my day in the life!

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