Senior Tax Associate

Distinct | North America; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited PTO

Hybrid work model

Job summary

Distinct in Chicago is seeking a Tax Senior with 3–5 years of public accounting experience. This 25-person firm emphasizes real client contact, flexible hybrid work, and no offshore outsourcing.

Busy season runs about 50–55 hours for a few weeks. You’ll handle complex partnership work for real estate clients, including returns, operating agreements and planning, alongside closely held businesses and construction clients.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of public accounting experience.
• Experience with real estate partnerships and partnership tax is required or highly desirable.
• Willingness to work with real estate clients and construction clients.

Responsibilities

• Work directly with Partners on client engagements.
• Manage own client relationships and expand responsibilities over time.
• Provide planning and returns for real estate partnerships and other entities.

Skills

Public accounting experience

Real estate partnerships

Partnership tax

Client management

Education

CPA preferred / pursuing CPA

Tools

UltraTax

Job description

It’s considerably better when people actually take it.

That probably tells you quite a lot about this firm. They’ve grown, but they haven’t responded to that growth by adding more layers, more rules or expecting everyone to live at work for three months of the year.

It’s a 25 person CPA firm where experienced people are treated like experienced people.

Once you’re settled in, hybrid working is flexible and you’re trusted to manage your own schedule. Busy season generally reaches around 50 to 55 hours, and even then, it’s only for a handful of weeks.

They’re now looking for a Tax Senior with around 3 to 5 years of public accounting experience.

The interesting bit is probably the work.

Real estate is a big part of the client base, so you’ll need at least a year of experience working with real estate partnerships. You’ll get into complex partnership returns, operating agreements and planning work, alongside closely held businesses and construction clients.

And because the firm is only around 30 people, you’re not six people removed from the person you’re actually doing the work for.

You’ll work directly with experienced Partners, manage your own client relationships and gradually take on more responsibility as you progress.

They don’t offshore the work either.

That might sound like a fairly small detail, but it changes quite a lot. You get to know why something is being done, who the client is and what they’re actually trying to achieve rather than becoming one small part of a very long process.

The philosophy here is really quite simple.

Know your clients well enough that when something happens in their business, they think to call you.

You’ll ideally have around 3 to 5 years of public accounting experience, strong partnership tax knowledge and at least a year working specifically with real estate partnerships. A CPA would be great, although they’re also happy to consider someone actively working towards it.

They use UltraTax, offer unlimited PTO and there’s plenty of room to keep progressing as the firm grows.