Director of Tax Services

Foguth Financial Group is seeking an exceptional tax professional to become the founding leader of our new Tax Services division. 

This is a rare opportunity to build and lead a tax practice within one of Michigan’s fastest-growing Registered Investment Advisory (RIA) firms. As the first hire on our Tax Services team, you will be responsible for creating the vision, processes, technology, staffing model, and client experience that will support more than 3,000 existing wealth management clients and drive the future growth of the department. 

The Director of Tax Services will oversee the end-to-end tax preparation and tax planning process while building a world-class, client-first tax operation that integrates closely with our Financial Advisors, Wealth Management team, and Client Service professionals. This role offers significant autonomy and leadership responsibility, allowing the successful candidate to design, build, and scale the department according to their expertise and vision. 

In addition to serving our established client base, this leader will play a critical role in expanding the firm’s tax services through new client acquisition, advisor referrals, strategic growth initiatives, and cross-functional collaboration. The ideal candidate combines advanced tax expertise with entrepreneurial drive, operational leadership, business development acumen, and a passion for delivering exceptional client experiences. 

We are seeking a leader who is excited by the opportunity to build something meaningful for the long term, establish a culture centered around exceptional client service, and create a scalable tax platform that can grow alongside the firm’s continued expansion. 

This is not simply a tax preparation position. It is a unique opportunity to create, lead, and grow a premier tax-services platform within a rapidly expanding wealth management organization. 

Why This Opportunity Is Different 

• Build and lead a Tax Services division from the ground up with executive-level support and resources. 

• Serve an established base of more than 3,000 wealth management clients who represent immediate tax-service opportunities. 

• Join one of Michigan’s fastest-growing independent wealth management firms, currently operating 16 offices with continued expansion plans. 

• Work closely with Financial Advisors to identify tax-planning opportunities and strengthen client relationships. 

• Benefit from a consistent pipeline of prospective clients generated through the firm’s existing wealth management operations. 

• Shape the future growth strategy, service model, technology platform, and client experience of the tax division. 

• Build a team, culture, processes, and operating structure aligned with your professional vision. 

• Participate in creating a fully integrated Wealth Management and Tax Services experience that delivers exceptional value to clients. 

• Enjoy the resources and support of an established organization while maintaining the entrepreneurial excitement of building something new. 

Key Responsibilities 

Tax Return Preparation & Oversight 

• Oversee the preparation and completion of tax returns for approximately 3,000 wealth management clients. 

• Personally prepare and/or review complex individual tax returns as needed. 

• Establish standardized processes and procedures for tax return preparation and review. 

• Ensure accurate and timely completion of federal, state, and local tax returns. 

• Review returns for accuracy, completeness, tax law compliance, and planning opportunities. 

• Identify opportunities to improve clients’ tax positions through appropriate tax-planning strategies. 

• Maintain current knowledge of federal and state tax laws, regulations, and filing requirements. 

• Coordinate with outside CPAs, attorneys, and other tax professionals when appropriate. 

Tax Department Leadership 

• Build, lead, and continuously improve the firm’s Tax Services division. 

• Develop staffing requirements, organizational structure, workflows, capacity plans, and service standards to effectively support approximately 3,000 clients. 

• Recruit, train, mentor, manage, and evaluate tax professionals and support staff as the department grows. 

• Establish quality-control and review procedures to minimize errors and missed deadlines. 

• Develop standardized tax-return checklists, client questionnaires, document-request processes, and review procedures. 

• Monitor department productivity, turnaround times, outstanding client information, and filing deadlines. 

• Establish department performance metrics and reporting. 

• Determine which returns should be prepared internally versus referred to outside tax professionals. 

• Develop and execute a strategic growth plan for the Tax Services division, including client acquisition, retention, advisor collaboration, staffing expansion, and service enhancements. 

Client Service 

• Serve as a senior tax resource for the firm’s Financial Advisors and high-net-worth clients. 

• Work directly with clients on complex tax matters when appropriate. 

• Communicate tax-return requirements, missing information, filing status, estimated taxes, and tax-planning opportunities clearly and professionally. 

• Coordinate closely with Financial Advisors to ensure tax considerations are incorporated into clients’ overall financial strategies. 

• Provide Advisors with actionable tax information that can improve client outcomes and strengthen client relationships. 

• Deliver a high level of responsiveness, professionalism, and service throughout the tax-return process. 

Wealth Management Integration 

• Partner with Financial Advisors to identify tax-planning opportunities for clients. 

• Review client tax returns for opportunities involving capital gains, charitable giving, retirement distributions, Roth conversions, business income, estate planning, and other wealth-management strategies. 

• Use tax-return information to identify opportunities for additional financial planning and investment-management services. 

• Help Advisors better understand clients’ tax situations and how those situations affect broader wealth-management strategies. 

• Develop processes for incorporating tax information into the firm’s overall client service and advisory workflow. 

• Collaborate with Advisors on opportunities to introduce tax clients to wealth-management services and wealth-management clients to tax services where appropriate. 

Technology & Process Improvement 

• Implement technology and workflow systems that allow the firm to efficiently manage thousands of tax returns. 

• Establish a centralized tracking system for return status, missing documents, review stages, filing deadlines, and client communications. 

• Identify opportunities to automate repetitive tax processes and client communications. 

• Develop dashboards and reporting tools to monitor department performance. 

• Continuously evaluate processes to improve efficiency, accuracy, scalability, and client experience. 

Compliance & Risk Management 

• Ensure tax returns are prepared in accordance with applicable federal and state tax laws and professional standards. 

• Maintain appropriate documentation and workpapers supporting tax-return positions. 

• Establish procedures for tax-return review and quality assurance. 

• Ensure all filing deadlines and extension deadlines are appropriately monitored. 

• Maintain appropriate confidentiality and security of client tax and financial information. 

• Stay current on changes in tax legislation and communicate material changes to Advisors and firm leadership. 

Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, or a related field preferred. 

• CPA, EA, or other recognized tax credential strongly preferred. 

• 7+ years of progressive tax preparation, tax planning, and tax-management experience, preferably serving high-net-worth individuals, families, and business owners. 

• Demonstrated experience preparing and reviewing individual tax returns. 

• Strong knowledge of federal and state individual taxation. 

• Experience with complex tax situations involving investments, capital gains, retirement accounts, charitable giving, trusts, partnerships, business income, and other high-net-worth issues preferred. 

• Previous experience managing a tax department, accounting team, tax practice, or high-volume tax-return operation preferred. 

• Proven leadership capabilities and a demonstrated desire to build, develop, and scale a growing business unit. 

• Strong organizational and project-management skills. 

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills. 

• Strong attention to detail and commitment to accuracy. 

• Ability to manage significant volumes of work while meeting strict filing deadlines. 

• Strong client-service orientation. 

• Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to build, scale, and lead a growing operation. 

• Ability to work collaboratively with Financial Advisors, leadership, and Client Service teams. 

Preferred Experience 

The ideal candidate will have experience working with: 

• High-net-worth individuals and families 

• Wealth management firms or integrated financial-services organizations 

• 1040 individual tax returns 

• Schedule A, B, C, D, E and related schedules 

• Investment and capital-gains taxation 

• Retirement distributions and Roth conversions 

• Charitable giving strategies 

• Trust and estate taxation 

• Business-owner taxation 

• Multi-state tax returns 

• Tax planning and estimated-tax calculations 

• Tax preparation software and workflow-management systems 

• Tax-practice leadership or department management 

Success Measures 

Success in this position will be measured by: 

• Accurate and timely completion of client tax returns. 

• Meeting or exceeding all federal and state filing deadlines. 

• High client satisfaction and retention. 

• Low tax-return error and rework rates. 

• Efficient management of the firm’s approximately 3,000-client tax workload. 

• Effective utilization of internal and external tax resources. 

• Improved communication and collaboration between Tax Services and Wealth Management teams. 

• Identification of meaningful tax-planning opportunities for clients. 

• Growth in tax-services revenue and new client acquisition. 

• Successful launch, development, and long-term growth of Foguth Financial Group’s Tax Services division. 

• Development of a scalable tax-services platform capable of supporting continued firm growth. 

Shape the Future of Tax Services at Foguth Financial Group 

This position represents a unique opportunity to build, lead, and scale a significant Tax Services division within a rapidly growing wealth management organization. 

The successful candidate will have substantial influence over staffing, operational processes, technology selection, client experience, service offerings, and long-term growth strategy. As the founding leader of the department, you will have the ability to shape virtually every aspect of the tax business while leveraging the resources of an established firm. 

The Director of Tax Services will have access to an existing client base of more than 3,000 households and will work closely with Financial Advisors and Client Service professionals to deliver an integrated tax and wealth-management experience. 

For the right leader, this role offers the opportunity to build a lasting legacy by creating a best-in-class tax practice supported by one of Michigan’s fastest-growing RIAs. Whether coming from public accounting, an established tax department, or another leadership role within the tax profession, the successful candidate will have the resources, autonomy, support, and platform necessary to build something exceptional.