Practice Lead – US Tax Jobaaj.com

The Corporate Institute; India; On-site; INR 2,400,000 - 4,800,000; Full time

Job summary

The Corporate Institute in Ahmedabad (hybrid) seeks a hands-on US Tax Practice Lead to review complex US tax returns, guide the delivery team, and manage client relationships. The role remains actively involved in technical issues and new-business opportunities, with a focus on quality, timelines, and profitability.

The incumbent will oversee engagement transitions, mentor staff, and contribute to practice growth while balancing technical work during US tax-season peaks.

Qualifications

• Minimum 10 years of relevant US taxation experience.
• Hands-on preparation and review of complex US returns.
• Strong English communication with US clients.
• Ability to balance technical review, leadership, and commercial priorities.

Responsibilities

• Personally review complex US federal and state tax returns during peak filing periods.
• Lead supervisors, reviewers, and preparers on engagements.
• Review high-risk returns and resolve technical, delivery, and client escalations.
• Own transition and stabilisation of new US tax engagements and client relationships.
• Communicate directly with US CPA firms and client stakeholders.
• Develop scalable processes, checklists, and quality-control procedures.

Job description

Role Purpose:

We are seeking a hands-on US Tax Practice Lead who combines deep technical expertise with delivery leadership, client engagement, and commercial capability.

This is not an operations-only leadership role. The selected individual must remain actively involved in reviewing complex US tax returns, resolving technical issues, guiding the delivery team, communicating with US clients, transitioning new engagements, and supporting new-business opportunities.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Hands-On Technical Leadership:

– Personally review complex US federal and state tax returns and remain actively involved during peak filing periods.

– Act as the final internal escalation point for difficult technical tax matters.

– Provide technical guidance across Forms 1040, 1065, 1120, 1120-S, and 1041; related Schedules K-1; extensions; estimated-tax calculations; and state and multistate returns.

– Review book-to-tax adjustments, basis calculations, capital accounts, partnership allocations, depreciation, distributions, tax elections, Schedule M-1/M-3 reconciliations, and supporting workpapers.

– Research complex federal and state tax matters and document practical conclusions.

– Establish technical review standards, checklists, workpaper requirements, and quality-control procedures.

2. Delivery and Team Leadership:

– Lead supervisors, reviewers, and preparers.

– Allocate engagements based on technical complexity, staff capability, and capacity.

– Review high-risk returns and resolve technical, delivery, and client escalations.

– Monitor quality, turnaround time, utilisation, and filing deadlines.

– Coach reviewers and supervisors to strengthen technical judgement and review quality.

– Build future technical leads and participate in recruitment, technical interviews, performance evaluation, and succession planning.

– Work directly with the team during critical US tax-season deadlines.

3. Client and Engagement Ownership:

– Communicate directly with US CPA firms, tax leaders, and client stakeholders.

– Participate in engagement kick-offs, status meetings, technical discussions, and issue-resolution calls.

– Understand client portfolios, return complexity, software, documentation standards, workflow, and service expectations.

– Own the transition and stabilisation of new US tax engagements.

– Review engagement performance, address quality or delivery concerns, and build trusted client relationships.

4. New Business and Practice Growth:

– Participate in prospective-client discovery calls and technical capability discussions.

– Assess client portfolios, return types, complexity, volumes, timelines, staffing requirements, and delivery risks.

– Support proposal preparation, solution design, effort estimation, pricing inputs, staffing models, and transition planning.

– Present the organisations US tax capabilities and design pilot engagements.

– Support conversion of pilots into recurring work and identify account-expansion opportunities.

– Help develop additional services such as technical review, tax research, tax planning support, multistate compliance, and specialised return preparation.

5. Practice Building:

– Develop scalable processes while remaining connected to day-to-day technical delivery.

– Create technical training, review manuals, checklists, templates, and knowledge resources.

– Standardise quality and review processes across engagements.

– Support hiring and capability development for preparers, senior associates, reviewers, supervisors, and team leads.

– Work with leadership on capacity planning, compensation, pricing, profitability, and practice strategy.

– Build a culture of technical ownership, responsiveness, and accountability.

Required Experience:

– Minimum 10 years of relevant US taxation experience.

– Strong experience in the US tax outsourcing, offshoring, KPO, or CPA-firm support industry.

– Significant hands-on preparation and review experience across individual and business tax returns.

– Current or recent responsibility for personally reviewing technically complex returns.

– Strong technical knowledge of Forms 1040, 1065, 1120, and 1120-S.

– Working knowledge of Form 1041, Schedule K-1 reporting, state returns, extensions, and estimated-tax calculations.

– Experience reviewing complex partnership and corporate tax workpapers.

– Experience leading team leads, supervisors, reviewers, senior associates, and preparers.

– Direct experience communicating with US clients or CPA firms.

– Experience supporting client transitions, proposals, pilot assignments, solutioning, or account expansion.

– Strong written and verbal English communication skills.

– Ability to balance technical review, team leadership, client communication, and commercial priorities.

Preferred Profile:

– Experience in a mid-sized or specialist US tax outsourcing organisation.

– Background in an entrepreneurial environment where senior leaders perform multiple roles.

– Current position as a Practice Lead, Senior Practice Lead, Tax Lead, Delivery Lead, or equivalent.

– Experience as the third or fourth senior person within a US tax practice, with limited further growth opportunity in the current organisation.

– Enrolled Agent, US CPA, CA, or another relevant professional qualification.

– Experience with complex partnerships, real estate, private equity, high-net-worth individuals, or multistate taxation.

– Exposure to international information reporting, including Forms 5471, 5472, 8858, 8865, 8938, or FBAR.

– Experience with CCH Axcess, GoSystem, UltraTax, Lacerte, Drake, ProSeries, or comparable tax software.

– Demonstrated contribution to winning, transitioning, or expanding client engagements.

What This Role Is Not:

– A role for someone who has moved completely away from technical tax work.

– A role focused mainly on headcount, utilisation dashboards, or administrative operations.

– A role for someone who depends on another technical expert to resolve complex return issues.

– A remote position or a narrowly defined role with limited responsibilities.

– A suitable position for someone unwilling to remain hands-on during the US tax season.

Success Measures – First 12 Months:

– Establish credibility as the technical escalation point for the US tax practice.

– Personally support review of complex and high-risk returns.

– Improve return quality and reduce client rework.

– Develop stronger reviewers, supervisors, and team leads.

– Successfully transition and stabilise new client work.

– Participate effectively in prospect and solutioning discussions.

– Support conversion of new opportunities into recurring revenue.

– Create practical, scalable technical processes and a strong ownership culture.

Work Arrangement:

– Ahmedabad location only.

– Hybrid model with mandatory and regular attendance at the Ahmedabad office.

– This is not a remote role; candidates outside Ahmedabad must be willing to relocate.

– Flexibility during the US tax season is mandatory.

– The role may require extended hours, adjusted shifts, US working-hour overlap, and occasional weekend work during peak periods.