PracticeDen Senior Tax Associate

R.D. Barnett•Firm Based in Seattle - Remote Work Opportunity, WA

37d•Remote

About The Position

PracticeDen is seeking an experienced, hard-working, and self-motivated Senior Tax Associate to join their Tax team. This role involves preparing a wide variety of tax returns for individuals and closely held entities, including federal, state, and local returns. The associate will work across entity and individual clients, connecting the financial picture of veterinary practices, related real estate, and the owner's personal tax situation. The position requires a strong accounting background to understand financial statements, reconcile accounts, and identify issues before tax return preparation. The role emphasizes using technology, including Excel and AI, to improve efficiency and accuracy, while maintaining a focus on client service and team collaboration. The Senior Tax Associate will be responsible for day-to-day execution, workpaper quality, status visibility, and early issue identification, reporting to the Tax Manager.

Requirements

At least three years of recent public accounting tax experience.
At least two busy seasons owning returns from client intake through reviewer submission.
Ability to prepare a varied return mix and deliver work ready for review.
Meaningful experience with individual and closely held business returns.
Ability to read financial statements, reconcile accounts, understand journal entries, and trace activity into a tax return.
Proficiency in Excel, including formulas, lookups, pivot tables, data cleanup, and organized workpapers.
Attention to detail to catch errors and missing support.
Curiosity about AI and automation for repetitive processes, with a focus on responsible use, client privacy, professional judgment, and verified outputs.
Clear communication skills (written and verbal) and sound judgment.
Ability to receive feedback constructively.
Stamina for 55+ hours during peak busy seasons (February-April 15 and September-October 15).
Reliability for remote work, including a secure workspace, dependable internet, and availability for Pacific Time collaboration.
Professional references from prior employers, supervisors, or clients.

Nice To Haves

CPA license, EA certification, CPA eligibility, or active progress toward a credential.
Experience reviewing simpler returns or training less-experienced preparers.
Tax-tech fluency with UltraTax CS or another professional preparation platform, e-file and portal workflows, or digital delivery tools.
Experience with AI or automation in tax or accounting workflows.
Comfort with broader accounting systems such as QuickBooks, Workpapers CS, Practice CS, SurePrep, SafeSend, SharePoint, Notion, Missive, Bill.com, Gusto, Double, or similar.
Experience with closely held businesses, multi-entity structures, real estate, professional practices, or veterinary-industry clients.
Experience with multistate, pass-through entity tax, basis, fixed asset, owner compensation, or closely held business planning.

Responsibilities

Prepare federal, state, and local tax returns for individuals and closely held entities (Forms 1040, 1065, 1120-S, 1120, trusts, estates, real estate entities).
Build clean, complete workpapers with clear support, reconciliations, calculations, notes, and tie-outs.
Connect practice, real estate, and individual filings to ensure a coherent financial story.
Reconcile balance-sheet accounts, retained earnings, fixed assets, basis, owner activity, payroll, sales or excise tax, and other book-to-tax items.
Enter and validate tax data, carryforwards, fixed assets, prior-year items, and current-year activity in tax software.
Identify missing information, inconsistencies, unusual issues, capacity concerns, and potential deadline problems.
Assist with extensions, estimates, e-filing, secure delivery, tax notices, and other technical projects.
Recognize services outside the agreed scope and communicate them to management.
Identify potential planning opportunities, research assigned questions, document facts and authority, and present recommendations.
Build traceable Excel workpapers and useful analyses, clean up data, review trial balances, and propose journal entries.
Learn and utilize new tools such as tax software, workflow platforms, portals, and collaboration tools.
Use AI thoughtfully for research, documentation, data handling, and repetitive workflows, ensuring firm-approved systems, client information protection, and output verification.
Identify and suggest improvements for clunky processes.
Communicate status, open items, scope, risks, and deadlines proactively.
Draft clear, professional client emails and explain requests without excessive jargon.
Incorporate feedback from review notes to improve future work.
Contribute to documentation, training, and the development of team systems and habits.
Coordinate with accounting, advisory, and client-service teammates on tax-related issues, planning opportunities, or client needs.

Benefits

Base salary of $80,000-$105,000 annually.
Medical, dental, and vision insurance (firm pays 100% of employee premium).
401(k) with a 3% company match.
Six firm holidays plus four floating holidays.
Fifteen vacation days per calendar year.
Paid sick and safe time.
Two paid volunteer days.
Continuing education and professional development opportunities.
Optional cell-phone coverage.
Personal tax support, including use of firm software and guidance from principals.
Firm-provided computer and standard technology equipment.