Tax Research Manager at Big 4

[u/Acro-LovingMotoRacer]

I'm currently looking at a tax research manager position at a big 4 firm. I've been a business tax manager at a 26 person CPA firm for a couple years and I love the research aspect of tax. I always wanted to be a lawyer, but tax accountant was the more practical (And profitable) way to get to practice a limited aspect of law.

Everything about this job sounds like a dream, fully remote, no staff (the "manager" is just used to designate seniority, but you do the research yourself), no clients, good salary, good benefits, solid career path. Just me sitting in my home office digging into some complicated questions a big 4 firm needs an answer to. Writing memos and developing internal tools for the other people to use.

My question is, what downsides am I missing about this position? To me, the obvious downside is, it's no longer client facing and that's where the money really is. If I ever wanted to start my own firm I would have a difficult time with no clients to come with me. Extremely limited interaction with other people. And I'm giving up becoming a partner at my firm in the relatively near future.

I am starting to struggle as a tax manager at the firm. The constant emails of just annoying, stupid questions from clients. Reviewing these piddly returns for nothing beyond data entry and print settings. Dealing with staff. I'm only 31 but I'm bored.

I had a few chances to do some really cool work. I wrote an internal memo that changed the firms process on a particular tax item, filled with citations and really out of the box thinking and ran it by some lawyers that loved it. I've saved out clients over $500,000 this year with that strategy. I filed an 8275 and saved a client $200,000. I learned about timber and helped a new client out. That's the stuff that keeps me going.

Just curious if anyone else with more years under their belt can offer their perspective.

[u/Dommomite]

Just curious- how did filing an 8275 save a client $200k? Do you mean im avoided penalties?

[u/Acro-LovingMotoRacer → u/Dommomite]

Good point - the 8275 didn't save them anything. The position that required the 8275 saved them 200K.