Tax Specialist - US at Kontak Recruitment

• A US-based alternative investment manager operating in structured and private credit is expanding its lean, high-calibre tax function with a remote hire based in South Africa. The firm's core activities span loan origination, securitisation, investment partnerships, corporations, REITs, registered funds, and an insurance business.
• The tax function is currently led by a single Managing Director with over 18 years of industry experience. This hire is created to relieve a growing compliance backlog and build a structured two-tier review system. Third-party firms prepare the returns and workpapers. The successful candidate performs the first level review. The Managing Director handles the final review. It is a focused, high-trust role for someone who takes ownership of their output and does not need to be chased.

What's in it for you

• Fully remote role based anywhere in South Africa, with no relocation required.
• Work directly alongside a Managing Director with 18-plus years of US tax experience, gaining deep exposure to complex US fund structures.
• Long-term engagement with a firm that intends to extend the contract indefinitely for the right person.
• Paid in South African Rand through a local entity, removing currency and administrative friction.
• 20 days paid leave per year plus South African public holidays.
• Equipment supplied or reimbursed, with all system access provided by the client.
• Bonus discussed at offer stage.
• Opportunity to work with AI tools including Claude, which the tax function already uses to automate entry-level tasks and routines.

Minimum Requirements

• Ideally 5-7 years big four experience in the tax department
• Prior experience supporting a US/UK/Irish asset management, financial services, real estate, hedge fund, or private equity tax practice.
• Hands-on experience with Geneva or a comparable portfolio accounting system used by fund administrators.
• Advanced Excel skills covering lookups, pivot tables, and large-dataset reconciliations with clearly built, traceable workpapers.
• Exceptional reconciliation discipline where every number ties to a source and every adjustment is documented so a remote reviewer can follow it without a call.
• Strong file management habits with consistent naming, versioning, and folder organisation.
• Sharp eye for errors in work prepared by others.
• Basic familiarity with Claude or similar AI tools and willingness to use them in daily work.
• Professional written and spoken English for regular communication with US-based colleagues and third-party service providers.
• Availability to overlap at least 5 hours daily with US Eastern Time, with extended overlap during peak periods in February to mid-April, late August to mid-September, and December.

Preferred requirements

• Solid working knowledge of US partnership tax under Subchapter K, including allocations across large partnership structures and K-1 reporting.
• Familiarity with US federal and state income tax forms, including the Form 1120 series and Form 1065.

Key Responsibilities

• Perform first level review of US federal and state corporate and partnership tax returns prepared by third-party accounting firms, flagging errors, inconsistencies, and open items.
• Review Schedule K-1 deliverables for accuracy, consistency with fund allocations, and investor-level reporting.
• Review estimated tax payment calculations and supporting schedules before payments are processed.
• Perform tax and technical diligence on positions taken in third-party deliverables and raise uncertainties and potential risk areas early.
• Reconcile taxable income workpapers to book income and portfolio accounting data, including allocations across large partnership structures.
• Run and export reports from portfolio accounting systems such as Geneva to support tax workpapers and data requests.
• Tie tax data back to source systems and document every adjustment with a clear, traceable paper trail.
• Complete and maintain IRS W-series forms including W-9, W-8BEN-E, and W-8IMY for firm entities and counterparties.
• Maintain entity management records and registrations covering legal entity details, tax classifications, EINs, and organisational charts.
• Organise tax files and records in a consistent, structured format so any reviewer can locate support quickly.
• Coordinate regularly with third-party tax firms, fund administrators, and the fund accounting team on data requests and open questions.
• Track deliverables to completion and escalate issues to the Managing Director, Tax.
• Prepare internal ad hoc analyses, schedules, and summaries for the tax function.
• Assist with process improvement and help extend the firm's use of AI tools within the tax function.