I work in tax. Re how it compares to audit just ask anyone in any firm how many people go from audit into tax and vice versa. People in tax tend to stay in tax and people in audit are generally gagging to get out at the end of their contract and some join tax.
I'm not saying theres anything intrinsically brilliant about tax but theres a bit less s*ite work of mindnumbing number cruching and checking and counting and double checking and ....... all the things that make audit such a great job. Of course as you rise a bit in the work of audit you'll rise above the worst of it.
Hours and location of work tend to be better than audit though deadlines are obviously peak times and overtime is the norm at those times.
So while theres a fair bit of "doing" in tax (particularly on the compliance side), there tends to be a bit more thinking before doing. This isnt universally good news because the risks are higher of messing up, the tax code(s) are complex, interact unusually at times and can be a minefield. So you'd want to have the aptitude for it - i.e. if you're happier keeping things straightforward then you might be happy out doing audits, accounts preparation and the general "projects" that can come the way of audit staff.
Did ACA and tax but worked in tax. Significant difference between the big Dublin firms (very specialised or "pidgeon holed") and everywhere else (where need a broad range). Neither is better than the other but being specialised more or less limits you to Dublin. You can "break out" but it takes time and big effort in early days of the more general role.
For the money you need to do consultancy, compliance, while a necessary staple diet, is never going to light up the bank account ....