Tax Manager Job Description Templates for Firms and In-House Teams
6 templates for the seat where review, capacity, and supervision meet: firm tax manager, corporate, state and local, private client, practice lead, and interim. Download as DOCX.
The first tax manager posting I ever helped a firm rewrite had a problem you could see from across the room. It listed eleven duties, ten of which a senior preparer already did, and one line about supervising staff with no number attached. The owner could not understand why the applicants were all seniors. They were applying to the job he had actually described.
A tax manager posting is not a longer tax accountant posting. The seat is defined by three facts that a preparer job never contains: how many people report to it, what it has final say over, and whose name goes on the return. Leave those out and you get volume without fit, in a candidate market that is already thin.
At FirstHR we write hiring templates for employers who do not have an HR department to hand this to. The six below cover a public accounting firm seat, a first in-house corporate hire, state and local tax, private client work, a practice lead, and interim busy-season cover, each with the classification and credential notes the generic versions skip.
TL;DR
A tax manager job description has to state three facts a senior posting never does: the number of direct reports, the review scope, and who signs the return. A supervising tax manager is exempt under the FLSA executive test, which requires directing at least two full-time employees and a salary of at least $684 per week. Six templates below, downloadable as DOCX.
The Manager Seat Is a Review Seat
What makes a tax manager a manager is that work stops with them. The seat carries the final technical review, the capacity plan behind it, and the people who produce the drafts. Strip any one of those away and you have a well-paid senior instead.
This matters more at a small firm than a large one. A national practice has a title structure that explains the level for you. A twelve-person firm does not, so the posting has to do the work: state the authority explicitly or watch every applicant assume the partner still reviews everything.
Final review and signature
The technical stop
The manager is where a return stops being someone’s draft and becomes the firm’s position. That authority is the seat. If a partner still reviews everything, you are hiring a senior with a manager title, and experienced candidates work that out in one interview.
Capacity and the calendar
Who does what, by when
Due dates, extensions, staffing across the peak, and the call on what gets pushed. This is the part small firms forget to put in the posting, and it is the part that decides whether the season ends calmly or in triage.
The people underneath
Two or more, or it is not executive
Preparers and seniors, their schedules, their development, and their reviews. The number of direct reports is not just a nice detail for the posting, it is the fact the FLSA executive exemption turns on.
Risk and representation
Notices, exams, positions
Escalated notices, examinations, and the judgment to decline a position and keep the client anyway. Representation rights before the IRS run with the credential, so decide early whether this seat has to hold one.
Write the Number of Direct Reports, Not the Word Supervise
Every tax manager posting says supervises staff. Almost none says how many. The number is the single most useful line in the document: it tells a candidate what the seat really is, it tells you whether the FLSA executive exemption is available, and it forces you to decide before the interview rather than during it. Write the count, write the mix of preparers and seniors, and write whether the count grows next season. If the honest answer is one part-time preparer, write that too and price the seat accordingly.
What Belongs in a Tax Manager Posting
A tax manager posting has to do four jobs: set the level, filter on credentials and scope, protect the firm legally, and close a candidate who has other options. Most postings do the middle two and skip the ends, which is why they read as interchangeable.
The facts that set the level
Number of direct reports, stated as a number
Review volume at peak, not just the word review
Whose signature goes on the return
Book size or segment the role owns
The requirements that filter
CPA or EA, marked required or preferred
PTIN expectation stated plainly
Entity types the candidate must have reviewed
Multistate depth proportional to your footprint
The clauses that protect you
FLSA classification named on the posting
Confidentiality and client data handling
Essential functions written plainly
Equal opportunity statement
The parts that close the hire
Salary or a good-faith range
Busy-season hours stated honestly
License, CPE, and dues paid by the employer
Whether a partner track is real or aspirational
The omission that costs the most is busy-season hours. Manager candidates have all worked a bad season and they will ask, so answering in the posting buys credibility rather than losing applicants. Our general guide to writing a job description covers the underlying structure, and the wider hiring template library has the adjacent finance roles.
6 Tax Manager Job Description Templates to Download
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: employer overview, position summary, what the role owns, required qualifications, a classification and compliance note, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you rewrite.
Download All 6 Tax Manager Job Description Templates
Public accounting, corporate in-house, state and local, private client, practice lead, and interim. All in one download.
Public Accounting Firm
Review is the bottleneck
The classic firm seat: final technical review, a defined book, supervision of preparers and seniors, and the due date calendar for a segment.
Corporate, First In-House Hire
Calendar, provision, advisors
For a company moving tax off the outside firm’s desk: compliance calendar, provision, nexus tracking, and management of the advisors who stay.
State and Local Tax
Nexus, registrations, sales tax
For a business selling or hiring across state lines, where registrations and exposure have become a standing job rather than a cleanup project.
Private Client
Individuals, trusts, estates
For a family-facing book: multi-year planning, fiduciary returns, coordination with attorneys and advisors, and year-round relationship ownership.
Senior Tax Manager
Practice lead, partner track
For the seat that takes capacity, pricing, hiring, and quality off the owner, with an honest statement of whether equity is on the table.
Interim / Fractional
Fixed dates and scope
For borrowed review capacity across a season or a leave, with the contractor-versus-employee question answered before the first return.
Template 1: Tax Manager, Public Accounting Firm
The classic firm seat, built around final technical review, a defined book, supervision of preparers and seniors, and the due date calendar for a segment. If the role you are filling reviews rather than owns, the senior accountant templates describe that level more accurately.
Template 2: Corporate Tax Manager, First In-House Hire
For a company moving tax off the outside firm’s desk for the first time: compliance calendar, provision, nexus tracking, and management of the advisors who stay. It pairs naturally with the corporate accountant templates when you are building the finance function in stages.
For a business selling or hiring across state lines, where registrations, nexus, and sales tax have stopped being an annual cleanup and become a standing job with real exposure attached.
State and Local Tax (SALT) Manager Job Description
STATE AND LOCAL TAX (SALT) MANAGER JOB DESCRIPTION
Employer: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Tax Director / Controller / Managing Partner]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: Exempt (learned professional; see note)
Compensation: $_ per year
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Employer Name] sells into [number] states and has employees in [number] of
them. Registrations, nexus, and sales tax have stopped being an annual cleanup
project and started being a standing job. This role owns that surface.
POSITION SUMMARY
The SALT Manager owns state and local tax across income, franchise, sales and
use, gross receipts, and payroll-adjacent registrations: determining where we
have obligations, getting registered, filing on time, and closing exposure
before an auditor finds it.
WHAT THIS ROLE OWNS
•Nexus analysis for income, franchise, and sales tax as we hire and sell
•Registration, and deregistration, in every jurisdiction we touch
•Sales and use tax returns and the exemption certificate file
•State apportionment and the state provision inputs
•Voluntary disclosure agreements and amnesty programs where exposure exists
•Audit defense, notices, and correspondence with state departments of revenue
•Advising [sales / people ops] before a new state becomes a surprise
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•Bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, or a related field
•[Number] years of state and local tax experience
•[CPA or JD preferred / not required: choose one]
•Working knowledge of economic nexus standards after South Dakota v. Wayfair
and how they differ across states
•Willingness to write things down: registrations and positions live in
documentation, not in one person's memory
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
A SALT manager is normally an exempt learned professional whether or not the
role supervises anyone, provided the salary test is met ($684 per week or
$35,568 per year federally, higher in some states). Two practical cautions for
the posting. First, hiring into a new state usually creates income tax
withholding and unemployment insurance obligations there, so the person filling
this seat may create work for themselves on day one. Second, state departments
of revenue do not treat a good-faith mistake as a defense to interest. Give the
role real authority to register and to file, not just to advise. This is
general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Employer Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per year, [bonus], [CPE and license fees paid],
[benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume.
Template 4: Private Client Tax Manager
For a family-facing book: multi-year planning, fiduciary and gift returns, coordination with attorneys and investment advisors, and year-round relationship ownership rather than seasonal contact.
Private Client Tax Manager Job Description (Individuals and Estates)
PRIVATE CLIENT TAX MANAGER JOB DESCRIPTION
Firm: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Managing Partner / Private Client Services Partner]
Employment type: Full-time, year-round
FLSA status: Exempt (learned professional and/or executive)
Compensation: $_ per year plus [bonus]
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Firm Name] serves [number] individual and family clients, including
[business owners / retired executives / multi-generational families]. The work
is personal, the deadlines cluster, and the relationship matters as much as the
return. We are hiring a manager to own a book of it.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Private Client Tax Manager reviews individual, trust, estate, and gift
returns, plans across the family group rather than one filer at a time, and
serves as the year-round point of contact for assigned relationships.
WHAT THIS ROLE OWNS
•Review of [1040, 1041, 709, 706] returns for assigned families
•Coordination with attorneys, investment advisors, and trustees
•Quarterly estimate calculations and the reminder cadence around them
•Supervision and review coaching for [number] preparers and seniors
•Onboarding new family relationships, including the prior-year review
•Sensitive conversations: bad news, late documents, and family disagreements
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•Bachelor's degree in accounting [master's in taxation preferred]
•[Number] years of individual and fiduciary tax experience with review
responsibility
•Active [CPA license / EA credential] and an active PTIN
•Trust and estate experience: [required / preferred]
•Discretion. Client financial detail stays inside the engagement, full stop.
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
This is an exempt seat under the learned professional test, and under the
executive test as well once the role customarily and regularly directs two or
more full-time employees. Two items belong in your posting and your offer
letter: a confidentiality provision that reflects how sensitive private client
data is, and a clear statement of who signs the return as paid preparer.
Anyone who prepares or assists in preparing a federal return for compensation
needs a valid PTIN, and only CPAs, attorneys, and enrolled agents hold
unlimited representation rights before the IRS. This is general information,
not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Firm Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per year, [bonus], [license, CPE, and dues paid],
[benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume.
Template 5: Senior Tax Manager, Practice Lead
For the seat that takes capacity, pricing, hiring, and quality off the owner. It includes an honest statement of whether equity is on the table, because candidates at this level ask on the first call. The controller templates cover the parallel seat on the accounting side.
Compensation: $_ per year plus [bonus / equity or partner track]
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Firm Name] is a [size] practice where the owner still carries too much of the
technical review and all of the capacity planning. This seat takes both. It is
[a stated partner track / a senior leadership seat with no equity: say which,
because candidates at this level ask on the first call].
POSITION SUMMARY
The Senior Tax Manager runs the tax practice day to day: capacity, quality,
pricing, staffing, and the technical positions the firm is willing to take,
with the partners retaining [signature authority / final sign-off on
[specified] matters].
WHAT THIS ROLE OWNS
•Capacity planning across both filing seasons and the extension window
•Final technical review and [signature authority / partner routing]
•The firm's positions on recurring judgment calls, written down
•Hiring, development, and retention for the tax team
•Realization, write-offs, and pricing on the book you carry
•Staff review calendar and the feedback that actually reaches people
•Practice growth: [referral relationships, niche development, upsell of
advisory work into the compliance base]
•Technology and workflow decisions for the tax practice
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•Bachelor's degree in accounting [master's in taxation preferred]
•[Number] years of public accounting tax experience, with [number] years
managing people, not just reviewing returns
•Active CPA license [state whether an EA with equivalent depth qualifies]
•Demonstrated ability to keep a team through a filing season
•Willingness to be measured on realization and retention, not hours
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
A practice lead is squarely exempt under the executive test: management as the
primary duty, customary and regular direction of two or more full-time
employees, and hiring recommendations that carry particular weight. If the role
comes with real equity, be careful how you describe it. A partner with a bona
fide equity interest of at least 20 percent who is actively engaged in
management is treated as an exempt executive without any salary test, but
labeling an employee a partner while paying a salary and directing the work
does not change what they are. Write the equity terms in a separate agreement,
not in the job posting. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Firm Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per year, [bonus], [equity or partner track terms if
they are real], [license, CPE, and dues], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume.
Template 6: Interim / Fractional Tax Manager
For borrowed review capacity across a season, a leave, or a vacancy, with the contractor versus employee question answered before the first return rather than after a wage claim.
Employment type: [Fixed-term employee, [dates]] or [independent contractor:
read the classification note before you choose]
FLSA status: Exempt if the duties tests are met (see note)
Compensation: $_ per [hour / month / engagement]
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Employer Name] needs review capacity for [January through April / the
extension window / a parental leave / a vacancy]. This is a defined engagement
with a start date, an end date, and a scope, not an open-ended seat.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Interim Tax Manager provides review capacity and technical judgment for a
fixed period: reviewing returns prepared by our staff, clearing diagnostics and
open items, and handing back a documented state of the book at the end.
WHAT THIS ROLE OWNS
•Review of [entity types] returns at roughly [number] per week
•Clearing preparer questions within [number] business hours
•[Signing as paid preparer / routing to the partner for signature: state which]
•Escalating positions the firm has not taken before rather than deciding alone
•A written handover at the end of the engagement: open items, extensions
filed, notices pending, and anything the next person needs
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•Active [CPA / EA] credential and an active PTIN
•[Number] years of review experience on [entity types]
•Availability of [number] hours per week between [dates]
•Working knowledge of [our tax software] or the ability to be productive in it
within [number] days
•Own equipment and a secure workspace, if the engagement is remote
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Seasonal does not mean contractor. If you set the schedule, assign the work,
supply the software, and direct how the review is done, you are describing an
employee, and a fixed end date does not change that. A genuine independent
contractor runs their own practice, carries their own liability coverage, sets
their own method, and serves other clients. If you hire this seat as a
fixed-term employee, the exempt duties tests still apply and the salary basis
requirement means a weekly salary that is not reduced for variations in
quantity or quality of work. Hourly interim managers are generally treated as
non-exempt. Put the engagement terms, the confidentiality obligation, and the
data return obligation in writing before the first return. This is general
information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Employer Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per [hour / month / engagement], [dates], [expected
hours per week], [software and equipment provided or not]
To apply, email __ with your resume and availability.
Signature Authority and the Credential Bar
Decide what the seat has to sign and represent before you decide what credential to require. Those two questions have legal answers, and everything else about the credential bar is preference dressed up as necessity.
Start with the registration. The IRS requires that anyone who prepares or assists in preparing a federal return for compensation hold a valid Preparer Tax Identification Number, renewed annually for a fee of $18.75. That is a registration, not a qualification, and it applies to the manager reviewing the return as much as to the preparer who drafted it.
Representation is the part that narrows the field. The IRS grants unlimited rights to practice before the agency to three groups only: certified public accountants, attorneys, and enrolled agents. If this seat has to defend an examination or speak for a client without a partner in the room, it needs one of those three.
Credential
What it actually gives the seat
When to require it
PTIN
Permission to prepare or assist in preparing federal returns for compensation; renewed annually for $18.75
Always. Non-negotiable for anyone touching a return for pay
Enrolled agent
Unlimited representation rights before the IRS, earned by examination or IRS experience
A strong bar for a tax-only seat, and a wider pool than CPA-only postings
CPA license
State licensure, representation rights, and the ability to hold out as a CPA and sign attest work
Require it when clients expect it, when attest work is in scope, or when a partner track is real
Attorney
Representation rights plus privilege in contested matters
Rarely a hiring requirement; usually an outside relationship instead
Master of taxation
Depth in a technical area; no legal authority of its own
Preferred, never required, unless the niche genuinely demands it
CPE currency
Keeps a license or credential alive against a state or IRS requirement
Track it as an employer obligation and pay for it; lapses are an employer problem
Requiring a CPA by reflex is the most expensive habit in small-firm tax hiring. It shrinks a pool that is already shallow, and it screens out enrolled agents who often carry deeper individual and representation experience than a newly licensed CPA. Decide from the work, then write the bar as required or preferred and stand behind it. The CPA job description templates cover the seat where the license genuinely is the requirement.
Overtime and the Executive Exemption
A tax manager who supervises staff is exempt under the executive test, and one who does not is normally exempt as a learned professional. Both routes require a salary of at least $684 per week, or $35,568 per year, paid on a salary basis. Several states set a higher floor.
The executive test is set out in the federal regulation on executive employees, and the Department of Labor explains its four elements in Fact Sheet 17B. The element that trips up small firms is the requirement to customarily and regularly direct the work of two or more full-time employees or the equivalent, which can be met in full-time equivalents rather than headcount.
The executive test counts heads
The executive exemption has four parts: a salary of at least $684 per week paid on a salary basis, management of the enterprise or of a customarily recognized department as the primary duty, customary and regular direction of the work of at least two full-time employees or the equivalent, and hiring and firing recommendations that carry particular weight. The two-employee element is the one small firms miss. A manager with one preparer and a seasonal helper may not clear it, and the Department of Labor allows the supervision to be counted in full-time equivalents rather than bodies, which cuts both ways when your team is part-time and seasonal. Count the reports honestly before you rely on this exemption, and write the number into the posting so the candidate understands the seat.
The learned professional test is the backup
Where the head count does not work, the learned professional exemption usually does. Accounting is a recognized field of science or learning, the work requires advanced knowledge, and a tax manager exercises consistent discretion and judgment on filing positions. That is the exemption an in-house tax manager with no direct reports relies on. It carries the same $684 per week salary floor and the same salary basis requirement, so the classification does not depend on the title or on how senior the seat feels. A useful habit: name both tests in the offer file and note which one you are relying on. If the role later loses its reports or changes scope, you already know which leg you were standing on.
Salary basis means the pay does not flex
Salary basis is a separate requirement from salary level, and busy season is where firms break it. An exempt employee receives a predetermined amount each pay period that is not reduced because of variations in the quality or quantity of work. Docking an exempt manager for a slow week in June, or for leaving early on a Friday in May, puts the exemption at risk for that person and potentially for everyone in the same job. Improper deductions have a safe harbor, but it requires a clearly communicated policy, prompt reimbursement, and a good-faith commitment to comply going forward. Pay the full week, use time off policies for absences, and keep bonuses on top of salary rather than carved out of it.
The staff below the manager are a different question
The manager is exempt. The people they supervise through a seventy-hour week may not be. Preparers, seasonal staff, and administrative support are frequently non-exempt, which means every hour past forty in a workweek carries overtime at one and a half times the regular rate, and the regular rate includes non-discretionary busy-season bonuses. Two failure patterns show up every filing season: paying a flat season bonus to non-exempt staff without recomputing the overtime rate, and treating a returning seasonal preparer as an independent contractor while setting their hours, their software, and their review process. Classify the whole team before the season starts, not after a wage claim. This is general information, not legal advice.
Everyone outside an exemption needs hours tracked and overtime paid past forty in a workweek, and the Fair Labor Standards Act applies to firms regardless of size.
If a specific seat is a close call, work the tests in order rather than reasoning from the title. Our breakdown of exempt versus non-exempt classification walks through salary level, salary basis, and duties in the sequence an investigator would use.
What to Pay a Tax Manager
There is no federal wage category named tax manager, which is the first thing to know before benchmarking. The nearest official classifications are accountants and auditors, where most firm tax managers sit, and financial managers, which is where a corporate tax manager or tax director eventually lands.
The Nearest Federal Occupations
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), accountants and auditors had a national median annual wage of $83,680, with the 25th percentile at $67,020, the 75th at $109,810, and the 90th at $144,090. Financial managers had a median of $166,570, a 25th percentile of $125,490, and a 75th of $219,980 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national estimates).
Federal occupation
Median (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
75th percentile
How it maps to a tax manager posting
Accountants and auditors
$83,680 per year
$109,810
Where most firm tax managers sit, in the upper quarter of the range
Financial managers
$166,570 per year
$219,980
The band a corporate tax manager or tax director moves toward
Tax examiners, collectors, and revenue agents
$62,370 per year
$83,390
The government revenue side; relevant when you recruit from an agency
Tax preparers
$54,920 per year
$76,300
Return preparation without review authority; a different posting entirely
Two adjustments matter more than any national figure. Benchmark against local firms with a comparable client niche, because a multistate pass-through practice and an individual return shop compete for different people at different prices. Then publish a good-faith range wherever pay transparency laws apply, and put the busy-season bonus structure next to base pay rather than saving it for the second interview.
Companies Using FirstHR Onboard 3x Faster
Join hundreds of small businesses who transformed their new hire experience.
The reason a firm needs a tax manager is almost never that returns are too complicated. It is that review has become a queue behind one person, and the queue has a hard deadline attached. Write the posting around that, because it is what the job is.
Concretely, that means stating volume. How many returns come through review at peak, in what mix of entity types, prepared by how many people. A candidate cannot assess whether your seat is survivable without those numbers, and the ones who accept without asking are the ones who leave in May.
A Season Nobody Warned Them About Costs You Two Hires
The most expensive outcome in tax hiring is a manager who leaves after one filing season, because you pay the search twice and the second one starts in the worst possible month. It is almost always caused by the same thing: expectations that were vague in the posting and specific in February. State the peak hours range, state the weekend expectation, state what the firm does to protect the team, and let candidates who cannot do it decline in October. That is a good outcome, not a lost applicant.
Capacity also decides what the seat pays for itself. A manager who absorbs review, staffing, and pricing frees the owner for client work and growth, and that is the honest business case. Adjacent seats do the same on the accounting side: the accounting manager templates and the tax preparer templates cover the roles most often hired alongside this one.
Hiring a Tax Manager Without an HR Department
Small-firm tax hiring fails in three predictable places: the posting describes a senior, the timing collides with the filing season, and the credential paperwork lands with no system behind it. Each has a fix that costs nothing.
The posting describes a senior and the salary describes a manager
This is the most common mismatch at firms under twenty people. The duties list says prepare and review complex returns, the qualifications ask for five years, and the pay line reaches into manager territory because the owner knows what the market costs. Strong manager candidates read that posting as a senior seat with a generous number attached and assume the authority is not real. Weak candidates apply enthusiastically. Fix it by writing the three facts that only a manager owns: how many people report to the seat, what the person has final say over, and whose name goes on the return. If you cannot answer all three, you are hiring a senior, and the honest posting will find a better fit faster than the flattering one.
You hire in the fall for a season that starts in January
Tax hiring runs on a calendar that punishes hesitation. The candidates worth having are deciding in the autumn whether to stay through another season at their current firm, and once January arrives nobody moves until May. A small firm that starts recruiting in November is bidding against firms that started in September, and a small firm that waits until February is buying interim capacity at a premium instead. Compress the process: post with a real salary range, run the interview in two conversations rather than five, and give a technical exercise that takes an hour rather than a take-home return. Speed is one of the few advantages a small practice holds over a large one, and it is worth more than another line in the benefits list.
Onboarding a licensed hire means credential paperwork nobody tracks
A tax manager arrives with a file: license number and expiration, PTIN renewal, CPE hours against a state requirement, professional liability disclosures, confidentiality agreements covering client data, software access, and the e-file authorization paperwork. At a firm without an HR department this ends up in an email folder, and the first person to notice a lapsed credential is usually a state board. FirstHR was built for that gap. The onboarding wizard runs the same sequence for every hire, e-signature handles the confidentiality and policy acknowledgments, document management stores the license and PTIN records against the employee profile with renewal dates attached, and training modules cover the security and data handling orientation before the first client file is opened. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR. Note that FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a payroll provider.
Once the offer is signed, the work becomes a repeatable onboarding checklist with credential renewals attached to it, and for a firm hiring across the finance function the payroll specialist templates handle the seat most often filled next.
Key Takeaways
A tax manager posting is defined by three facts a senior posting never contains: the number of direct reports, the review volume and scope, and whose signature goes on the return.
The FLSA executive exemption requires management as the primary duty, direction of at least two full-time employees or the equivalent, and a salary of at least $684 per week ($35,568 per year).
A tax manager with no direct reports, common for a first in-house hire, relies on the learned professional exemption instead, which carries the same salary level and salary basis requirements.
Anyone preparing or assisting in preparing federal returns for compensation needs an active PTIN, and only CPAs, attorneys, and enrolled agents hold unlimited representation rights before the IRS.
There is no federal wage category for tax managers; benchmark against accountants and auditors (median $83,680, 75th percentile $109,810) and financial managers (median $166,570) from BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Run the search in the autumn, because tax candidates decide before January and the market freezes until May, and state busy-season hours in the posting rather than in February.
A licensed hire arrives with a file: license number, PTIN renewal, CPE hours, confidentiality agreements, and software access. FirstHR runs the same onboarding sequence every time, with e-signature for agreements and acknowledgments, document storage for license and credential records, and renewal dates tracked so nothing lapses quietly. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a tax manager do?
A tax manager owns the final technical review on returns, the capacity plan that gets them filed, and the people who prepare them. In a public accounting firm that means reviewing and signing or routing returns for signature, running the due date calendar for a segment of the book, supervising preparers and seniors, handling escalated notices and examinations, and pricing engagements. In a company it means owning the compliance calendar across federal, state, and local filings, preparing or reviewing the income tax provision, tracking nexus as the business grows, and managing the outside firm that still does the return work. The common thread is authority. A tax manager is the point where a draft becomes the organization’s filing position, and that is what separates the seat from a senior preparer role.
What should a tax manager job description include?
Six things decide whether the posting attracts real manager candidates. State the number of direct reports as a number, because it sets the level and it is the fact the FLSA executive exemption turns on. State the review volume at peak rather than using the word review on its own. State whose signature goes on the return. State the credential bar as required or preferred, along with the PTIN expectation. State the FLSA classification. State the salary or a good-faith range, plus whether license, CPE, and dues are paid. Two more items close manager-level candidates specifically: an honest statement of busy-season hours, and a straight answer on whether a partner track exists or the seat tops out where it starts.
Does a tax manager need a CPA license?
Not always, and the answer should be a deliberate choice rather than a default. There is no federal license to work in tax. Anyone who prepares or assists in preparing a federal return for compensation needs a valid PTIN from the IRS, which is an annual registration rather than a credential. Beyond that, the IRS grants unlimited representation rights before the agency only to CPAs, attorneys, and enrolled agents, so if this seat must defend an examination or represent clients directly, it needs one of those three. State boards of accountancy also restrict who may hold out as a CPA and who may sign certain attest work. A strong enrolled agent can carry a demanding tax manager seat, and requiring a CPA out of habit narrows a shallow candidate pool further than most small firms can afford.
How much does a tax manager make?
There is no federal wage category named tax manager, so benchmarking runs through the nearest classifications. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), accountants and auditors had a national median annual wage of $83,680, with the 75th percentile at $109,810 and the 90th at $144,090, while financial managers had a median of $166,570 and a 25th percentile of $125,490. A tax manager at a small firm generally sits in the upper quarter of the accountants and auditors range, and a corporate tax manager with a broad footprint pushes toward the financial managers band. Benchmark locally against firms with a comparable client niche, because a multistate pass-through practice competes in a different market than an individual return shop.
Are tax managers exempt from overtime?
Yes in nearly every case, but the reason matters for your records. A tax manager who supervises staff usually qualifies under the FLSA executive exemption, which requires a salary of at least $684 per week ($35,568 per year) paid on a salary basis, management as the primary duty, customary and regular direction of at least two full-time employees or the equivalent, and hiring recommendations that carry particular weight. A tax manager without direct reports, which is common for a first in-house hire, qualifies instead as a learned professional, since accounting is a recognized field of advanced knowledge and the role exercises consistent discretion on filing positions. Several states set a higher salary floor than the federal one. The staff the manager supervises are a separate analysis, and many of them are non-exempt.
What is the difference between a tax manager and a senior tax accountant?
Review authority and supervision, not years of experience. A senior tax accountant prepares complex returns and performs first-level review of staff work, but a manager or partner reviews the senior. A tax manager carries the final technical review, decides the position the firm is willing to take, owns the due date calendar and staffing for a segment, and manages the people rather than only their output. The practical test for a posting: if a partner still reviews everything before it goes out, the seat is a senior with a manager title, and experienced candidates work that out in one conversation. Pay follows the same line. Advertise a senior seat at manager pay and you attract applicants who want the title without the accountability.
How do I hire a tax manager for a small firm with no HR department?
Start in the autumn, because tax candidates decide before January and nobody moves between January and May. Post with a real salary range and the three facts that define the level: direct reports, review scope, and signature authority. Run the process in two conversations plus a one-hour technical exercise instead of a five-stage funnel, since speed is the advantage a small practice actually holds. Check references with someone who reviewed the candidate’s work, not only someone who liked them. Then run onboarding as a checklist rather than an inbox: signed offer and confidentiality agreement, license and PTIN records with renewal dates, CPE tracking against your state requirement, software and e-file access, and a security orientation before the first client file opens. FirstHR handles that sequence with e-signature, document management, and renewal tracking. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
