Tax Manager - Trusts experience

Distinct | North America; Illinois; Remote; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Summer Fridays

Christmas & New Year shutdown

Generous PTO

Flexible schedules

Remote working

Medical and dental coverage

401(k)

Annual bonus pool

CPA/MST reimbursement

Job summary

Distinct | North America’s Illinois CPA firm is expanding its High Net Worth and family office group, focusing on fiduciary tax and wealth planning for wealthy individuals and families. The role offers remote work flexibility with optional on-site collaboration and close access to Partners.

You’ll review complex fiduciary returns, advise on estate and gift planning, and help shape clients’ wealth strategies while mentoring juniors.

Qualifications

• Around 5+ years of fiduciary tax and wealth planning experience in public accounting.
• Strong High Net Worth exposure preferred.
• Ability to have conversations with clients directly (not filtered through a Partner).
• Knowledge of complex 1041s and estate planning documents.

Responsibilities

• Review complex fiduciary returns, trusts and estates.
• Collaborate with estate and gift tax specialists on wealth structuring and tax exposure reductions.
• Engage in planning conversations behind clients’ structured wealth plans.
• Mentor Seniors and Associates in technical areas and problem solving; contribute to research.

Skills

Fiduciary tax & wealth planning

Client advisory & relationship mgmt

Public accounting experience

Education

CPA, JD or LLM in Taxation

Job description

You can specialize in Trust & Estate tax without signing yourself up for a huge firm, endless layers of management, and a calendar that seems to belong to somebody else.

That’s probably the biggest appeal here.

You’d be joining an established Illinois CPA firm of around 90 people, but specifically sitting within their High Net Worth and family office group. It’s a specialist team working with wealthy individuals and families across trusts, estates, foundations and wider wealth planning.

And they’re already set up for remote work.

Several people within the group work fully remotely, including senior members of the team. If you like going into an office, you can. If you don’t, you’re not going to suddenly discover three months in that “remote” actually meant Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and every other Thursday.

The work itself goes well beyond getting another 1041 out the door.

You’ll review complex fiduciary returns, work through trusts and wills, and get involved in the planning conversations behind them. You’ll work alongside estate and gift tax specialists to look at how clients can structure things more effectively, reduce future tax exposure, and make sensible decisions around their wealth.

You’ll also have direct access to the Partners leading this area.

That means you’re close to the decisions and close to the clients, with the opportunity to become a key contact for families yourself. If you enjoy the relationship side of tax and want more advisory exposure, there’s plenty of room for that here.

There’s also a team underneath you.

You’ll help develop Seniors and Associates, particularly around more technical areas, research, and how to actually think through an issue rather than simply follow what was done last year.

They’re looking for someone with around 5+ years of fiduciary tax and wealth planning experience in public accounting, ideally with strong High Net Worth exposure.

You’ll know your way around complex 1041s and estate planning documents, and you’ll have enough Trust & Estate experience to comfortably have conversations with clients rather than needing everything filtered through a Partner.

CPA, JD or LLM in Taxation is preferred.

Then there’s the lifestyle side of it.

Summer Fridays. A proper Christmas and New Year shutdown. Generous PTO. Flexible schedules. Remote working. Medical and dental coverage, 401(k), annual bonus pool and CPA/MST reimbursement.

The firm has deliberately built flexibility into how people work because they want good people to stay. Fairly simple idea, really.

So if you enjoy Trust & Estate work but you’re starting to wonder whether doing interesting, complex tax has to come with a bigger firm and less control over your life, it doesn’t.