SALT (State & Local Tax) Expert at Mercor

SALT Expert | $100–150/hr | Worldwide Remote

Mercor is connecting top-tier State & Local Tax (SALT) professionals with leading AI research labs building the next generation of intelligent reasoning systems. In this role, you will evaluate, review, and improve AI models' understanding of complex multi-state tax concepts, regulations, and real-world tax planning scenarios.

Key Responsibilities

• Analyze 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 across critical SALT topics, including:
  • 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 in AI outputs.
• Provide clear, written feedback to improve model accuracy and tax-legal 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 hands-on experience in State & Local Tax (SALT).
• Background at a Big 4 firm, national accounting firm, law firm, state revenue department, or corporate tax department strongly preferred.
• Deep expertise in one or more of the following areas:
  • Nexus analysis (economic, physical, factor-presence, remote employee)
  • P.L. 86-272 compliance
  • 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
  • State tax controversy, audit defense, or litigation
• Strong tax research skills using primary authorities, statutes, regulations, and case law.
• Excellent written communication and analytical reasoning abilities.

Why Join?

• Play a direct role in shaping AI systems used for professional tax research and reasoning.
• Engage with intellectually stimulating SALT issues spanning all major domains.
• Collaborate with leading AI researchers and seasoned tax professionals.
• Influence how advanced AI understands complex tax law and compliance frameworks.