SALT (State and Local Taxation) Experts

Mercor is connecting exceptional professionals with leading AI research labs developing the next generation of reasoning systems. We are seeking experienced State & Local Tax (SALT) experts to help evaluate, review, and improve AI models' understanding of complex multi-state tax concepts, regulations, and real-world tax planning scenarios. ### Responsibilities - Analyse and review AI-generated responses involving U.S. state and local tax issues. - Evaluate model performance on multi-state corporate income tax, sales and use tax, and pass-through entity tax scenarios. - Create and validate tax research questions, answer keys, and evaluation rubrics. - Assess AI reasoning related to: - Economic and physical nexus - Marketplace facilitator rules - P.L. 86-272 protections and limitations - State conformity to federal tax law - GILTI, Subpart F, §965, and foreign income inclusion issues - Apportionment and sourcing methodologies - Throwback and throwout rules - Combined and unitary reporting - Water's-edge elections - State tax withholding and mobile workforce rules - Digital advertising taxes and emerging SALT developments - Identify factual errors, technical inaccuracies, and incomplete legal analysis. - Provide written feedback that improves model accuracy and legal-tax reasoning. - Review edge cases involving conflicting state rules and evolving administrative guidance. ### Requirements - CPA, JD, LLM (Tax), MST, or equivalent advanced tax credential preferred. - 5+ years of experience in State & Local Tax (SALT). - Experience at a Big 4 firm, national accounting firm, law firm, state revenue department, or corporate tax department strongly preferred. - Deep expertise in several of the following: - Nexus analysis (economic, physical, factor-presence, and remote employee nexus) - P.L. 86-272 - State corporate income and franchise taxes - Multi-state apportionment and sourcing - Combined reporting and unitary business principles - Foreign income state taxation (GILTI, Subpart F, §965, NCTI) - State conformity and decoupling provisions - Sales and use tax compliance - Pass-through entity tax (PTET) regimes - Nonresident withholding and composite filing requirements - State tax controversy, audit defence, or litigation - Strong tax research skills using primary authorities, state statutes, regulations, administrative guidance, and case law. - Excellent written communication and analytical reasoning skills. - Comfortable reviewing nuanced technical tax questions and explaining conclusions clearly. ### Why Join - Help shape the next generation of AI systems used for tax research and professional reasoning. - Work on intellectually challenging state and local tax issues spanning all major SALT domains. - Collaborate with leading AI researchers and tax experts. - Opportunity to influence how advanced AI systems understand complex tax law and compliance frameworks.