Corporate Tax Expert

$100/hrrate as listed

Complete self-contained corporate income tax exercises from mock files — trial balances, intercompany agreements, deal documents — and produce the finished deliverable for each. Work is graded against a rubric and paid per task, with observed rates around $2,000 per completed task.

Summary, eligibility guidance and screening preparation are prepared by Sidequest from the platform's posting. Check the source listing before applying.

The work

Each task starts with a mock fact pattern and ends with a work product a reviewer could hand to a controller or a tax director. That might mean building a quarterly or annual ASC 740 provision from a trial balance — current and deferred computations, valuation allowance assessment, and a rate reconciliation that actually ties. It might mean a federal or state return package with apportionment workpapers, a cash tax forecast by jurisdiction, or a technical computation set covering GILTI, FDII, BEAT, Pillar Two, the 163(j) interest limitation, or NOL and attribute analysis. Transfer pricing tasks involve master file and local file documentation plus review of intercompany agreements against stated policy. Transaction tax tasks cover diligence of exposures and carryover attributes, structuring memos, and documented positions including FIN 48 reserves.

What the screen looks for

Mercor's screening is AI-led and follow-up heavy. It is looking for whether your stated experience holds up under specific questioning: which entities and jurisdictions you actually worked, what software you closed in, where your judgment differed from the return position, how you documented it. Scope matters here — this is corporate income tax. Individual 1040 practices, payroll tax, and sales-and-use-only backgrounds are explicitly out of scope, and the screen will test for that quickly.

The assessment is three deliverables: an ASC 740 provision from a mock trial balance, a transfer pricing benchmarking memo, and a deal tax structuring recommendation. Depth in one of the three tracks — provision and compliance, international and transfer pricing, or M&A tax — matters more than shallow coverage of all three.

Logistics

Fully remote and asynchronous; you pick up tasks from a queue rather than working fixed hours.
Task-based pay, observed at roughly $2,000 per completed task; volume depends on queue availability and rubric pass rate.
Multi-hour deliverables, not micro-tasks — plan for a substantive block of focused work per assignment.
No client contact, no filing deadlines, no busy-season on-call.

What they look for

4+ years in corporate income tax, in-house or at a Big 4 / national firm
Demonstrated depth in provision and compliance (ASC 740), international and transfer pricing, or M&A tax
Ability to produce audit-ready workpapers and written technical memos from raw source documents
Working knowledge of US international provisions: GILTI, FDII, BEAT, 163(j), Pillar Two
CPA, JD/LLM in Taxation, EA, or CTA (preferred)
Tax equity or HLBV modeling experience (nice to have)

Before you apply

Would you pass this screen?

Drawn from what this listing actually requires. Answered in your browser — nothing is sent to us, and we do not store your answers.

Do you have at least 4 years of experience in corporate income tax, either in-house (corporate tax department) or at a Big 4 firm?
Years in corporate income tax · required
Do you have demonstrated depth in at least one of the following: corporate tax provision and compliance, international tax and transfer pricing, or M&A transaction tax?
Depth in at least one tax lane · required
Do you hold a CPA, JD in Taxation, LLM in Taxation, EA (Enrolled Agent), or CTA (Certified Tax Accountant) credential?
CPA, JD/LLM in Taxation, EA, or CTA · preferred
Do you have hands-on experience building or reviewing tax equity structures or HLBV (hypothetical liquidation at book value) models?
Tax equity or HLBV modeling · preferred

0 of 4 answered

Included with this listing

Interview prep — 11 questions

Matched to what this platform's screening actually measures. Answer each out loud in 60–90 seconds: claim → concrete example → implication.

What it tests: Whether you've actually built tax provisions under the accounting standard, not just compliance returns; whether you understand the interplay between current tax, deferred tax, and book-to-tax reconciliation at a working level.
A strong answer: Name a specific scenario (e.g., a major equity investment, a restructuring with state apportionment changes, a loss year), describe the current and deferred components you calculated, and explain the rate reconciliation steps you walked through—showing you've sat at the spreadsheet, not delegated the work.
Where people lose it: Generic answer like 'I've prepared many provisions' without walking through the mechanics of a real deferred tax position; conflating a provision with a tax return; or showing confusion about when deferred tax assets flip valuation allowances.