SALT (State and Local Taxation) Experts
Mercor • Remote
Education
Any
Type
hourly
Pay Rate (by country)
$100–$150/hr
Listed
49d ago
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About this Role
From the Mercor listing
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Requirements
- Must be eligible to work in Remote
- Fluent proficiency in English (Written & Verbal)
- Reliable high-speed internet connection
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience
- Demonstrated expertise in Accounting
Why This Role
Monetize your niche expertise without the billable hours. At $125/hr, this role offers elite compensation for pure intellectual work, no client management or administrative bloat.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mercor for freelancers or full-time contractors?
Mercor places you with one client for a defined engagement, like 'Python Tutor for 3 months', rather than having you grab small tasks from a shared queue. Most roles function as steady contract work, not one-off gigs.
Does Mercor's application require an on-camera interview?
Yes, every applicant records a video interview with an AI interviewer that asks questions about your resume. Clients review that recording to judge communication skills before matching, so there's no way to apply without going on camera.
Does it cost money to apply to Mercor?
No, applying and joining Mercor is free. Mercor's revenue comes from a fee it charges the client on top of your hourly rate, not from applicants. Treat any request for payment to join as a red flag.
Is AI training work the same as traditional consulting?
No. Instead of client deliverables, you're given complex scenarios to evaluate: grading the AI's logic, correcting its hallucinations, and supplying expert-level reasoning it doesn't have on its own. The job is closer to teaching than consulting.
Why do these AI training roles pay so much?
Because general knowledge isn't what's being tested. The model already knows the basics; what it needs is expertise on edge cases, the rare, difficult, highly technical judgment calls only a senior professional in the field would make correctly.
What does the day-to-day workload look like for elite-expert AI training roles?
Slow and deep, not fast and repetitive. A single task can take 45-60 minutes of researching citations or verifying complex calculations. Quality is what's being measured here, not throughput.
What does Accounting work look like for a SALT (State and Local Taxation) Experts?
Tasks here are scoped to Accounting, not generic labeling. As a SALT (State and Local Taxation) Experts, expect to draw on real domain judgment (evaluating outputs, correcting errors, or providing expert reasoning specific to Accounting) rather than following a one-size-fits-all rubric. If you don't have hands-on Accounting background, this is likely not the right listing to start with.
What happens when I click Apply on this listing?
You'll be taken to Mercor's external site to complete your application there. This listing links through a referral, but the process is identical to applying directly; the link just routes you correctly. Create an account on their site and follow their onboarding steps.
How soon will I start working after applying to Mercor?
Not immediately. Mercor is a talent marketplace, not a task queue, so applying puts you in a pool of candidates. You start working only once a specific client, like a major AI lab, selects your profile, and that matching process can take weeks.