Senior Tax Associate
About The Position
Our tax practice runs on pods: small teams led by a Tax Manager, senior associates and associates, including members of our global team, each serving a defined group of clients. Seniors are the engine of a pod. You produce the work clients count on, you're the first line of quality, and you're the person associates learn from day to day. We're growing, and we need senior associates who take real ownership of their returns, their deadlines, their own development, and the people coming up behind them. In return, you get direct on-the-job coaching from your manager, firmwide learning and development programs, and a clear runway toward review and management responsibilities. This is the role where you grow from preparing returns into shaping them: planning ideas, research, client relationships, and mentoring. If that's the career step you're looking for, keep reading. One thing to know up front: every technical role at BW&O is on a path to licensure, and stepping into the manager track requires a CPA or EA. Not licensed yet? We'll back you — exam fees reimbursed, bonus when you pass — but you'll have a real timeline, not a someday plan.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree, preferably in accounting or finance
- 3–5 years of experience providing tax compliance and consulting services in public accounting, or an appropriate balance of education and work experience
- Eligible to sit for the CPA exam and actively working toward a CPA or EA license
- Strong understanding of accounting and tax rules
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Available to work evenings and weekends during peak tax season on an as-needed basis
Nice To Haves
- CPA license, EA, or law license
- Advanced degree in tax or accounting
- Intuit Lacerte tax software experience
- Experience with any of the following: affordable housing, Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), HUD, real estate and developers, partnerships, housing authorities, exempt organizations, trusts, or high-net-worth individuals and family groups.
Responsibilities
- Prepare returns that hold up. Individual, S corporation, partnership, exempt organizations, and trust returns, prepared accurately and ahead of deadline, with workpapers your reviewer can trust and compliance risk minimized.
- Interpret financial data, monitor client trends, and flag tax planning and optimization opportunities for your manager and clients. The best ideas here don't die in a email or meeting — they become paid planning engagements, and you'll see yours get there.
- Dig into changes in tax legislation and what they mean for clients, contribute to research projects, and help draft responses to the IRS and other tax authorities.
- Be the first stop for associate’s questions and help them build their compliance and strategy instincts.
- Communicate clearly and professionally, anticipate needs, and deliver service that makes clients feel looked after.
- Manage concurrent deadlines and shifting priorities in Karbon, and hit internal firm deadlines (time entry, billing) without being chased. Your numbers — on-time delivery, review notes per return, response times — are visible in Karbon, and you own them.
- Get inside our systems: Karbon workflows, prep and review standards, and communication standards. Meet your pod and take your first returns into production.
- Carry a full prep workload. Your workpapers are clean, your self-review catches issues before your reviewer does, and your deadlines are tracked in Karbon.
- Take on more complex returns, complete your first research project or tax authority response draft, and start fielding questions from junior preparers.
- Be trusted with some of your pod's more complex work, actively mentor at least one junior preparer, and have clients who recognize you as a responsive point of contact.
- Your returns move through review with fewer notes each season
- You're the go-to for associates day-to-day questions
- You've surfaced planning ideas that made it to clients
- You're building the review and leadership skills that point toward the manager track
- You've begun first-pass reviews of associate-prepared returns — the first concrete step on the manager track
Benefits
- IRA with employer match
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Opportunity for advancement
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
- Paid overtime during peak season.
- Paid holidays
- Flexible work from home options available.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
