Hospitality

Tax Specialist - Us

Kontak Recruitment·All, south-africa·Full Time·Remote
HospitalityFull TimeRemote
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  • 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.

At a glance

Company

Kontak Recruitment

Location

All, south-africa

Employment

Full Time

Experience

Valid until

Not specified

Created

October 13, 2026