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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Transportation and Excise Tax Consultant

💰 $ - $

🎯 Role Definition

As a Transportation and Excise Tax Consultant you will lead the design, implementation and ongoing management of indirect tax programs related to transportation, fuel, motor carrier operations, and excise duties. This role blends deep technical tax expertise (fuel tax, environmental fees, heavy vehicle use tax, excise duties, customs classification) with data-driven systems implementation, audit defense, process optimization, and client advisory. You will partner with finance, operations, procurement, customs brokers and IT to reduce tax risk, recover credits, streamline compliance, and translate complex regulatory requirements into practical business solutions.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Junior Indirect Tax Analyst or Indirect Tax Associate
  • Customs & Trade Compliance Analyst or Import/Export Specialist
  • Corporate Tax Analyst with exposure to indirect or state & local taxes (SALT)

Advancement To:

  • Senior Transportation & Excise Tax Consultant / Manager
  • Indirect Tax Practice Lead or State & Local Tax (SALT) Manager
  • Director of Indirect Taxation or Head of Customs & Trade Compliance

Lateral Moves:

  • Customs Compliance Manager
  • Global Trade & Tariff Analyst
  • Tax Technology / ERP Indirect Tax Solution Consultant

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Advise clients on transportation and excise tax strategy, including state and local fuel taxes, motor carrier fuel use taxes, heavy vehicle use tax, air passenger duties, and environmental fees, designing compliant and tax-efficient approaches that align with operational realities.
  • Lead preparation, review and filing of periodic excise tax returns (federal, state and local), ensuring accuracy of tax calculations, proper allocation of exemptions and credits, and timely submission to relevant tax authorities.
  • Conduct comprehensive transportation tax compliance assessments and gap analyses across fleet operations, logistics networks, warehousing, and vendor relationships, producing clear remediation roadmaps and control frameworks.
  • Manage complex tax research projects on evolving state and federal statutes, administrative rulings and local ordinances impacting transportation and excise tax obligations, synthesizing findings into practical client advisories and written memoranda.
  • Serve as lead contact in tax audits and controversies for transportation and excise issues, preparing position papers, assembling supporting documentation, negotiating with auditors, and managing appeals where necessary.
  • Develop and implement tax accounting methodologies and journal entries for excise and transportation taxes in accordance with GAAP and ASC 740, coordinating with corporate tax, treasury and external auditors.
  • Design and execute excise tax recovery analyses (e.g., fuel tax credits, diesel refunds, kerosene rebates), building detailed models to estimate recoverable amounts and overseeing refund claim preparation.
  • Lead HTS (Harmonized Tariff Schedule) and commodity classification reviews where transportation, shipping, or excise-related duties intersect with tariff treatment, working closely with customs brokers and trade compliance teams.
  • Build and maintain tax calculation rules and rate libraries in tax engines (Vertex, Sovos, Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE, Avalara) and ERP systems (SAP, Oracle) specific to fuel taxes, environmental fees and excise duties.
  • Oversee transactional testing and reconciliation between operational systems (fuel cards, telematics, TMS) and tax reporting, identifying mismatches and implementing process controls to reduce leakage and misclassification.
  • Drive cross-functional projects to integrate telematics, fuel management, and ERP data for accurate tax reporting, specifying technical requirements for IT and data engineering teams and validating end-to-end data flows.
  • Create and deliver training programs and standard operating procedures for internal teams and client stakeholders on transportation tax compliance, record retention, exemption certificate management and best practices.
  • Conduct financial modeling and scenario analysis to quantify the tax impact of fleet rationalization, route optimization, fuel hedging, operational shifts, and regulatory changes.
  • Provide tax implications and implementation support for mergers, acquisitions and divestitures where transportation liabilities, excise exposures or tax attributes require due diligence and post-close integration planning.
  • Monitor legislative and regulatory developments across federal, state and international jurisdictions affecting excise and transportation taxes; proactively assess client exposure and recommend business or policy responses.
  • Design and implement audit-ready documentation and document retention strategies to support excise filings, refunds and audits, ensuring defensible substantiation for exemption claims and credit positions.
  • Collaborate with legal counsel to interpret statutory exemptions, bonding requirements and licensing obligations for fuel distributors, wholesalers and carriers; prepare affidavits, certificates and legal analyses as required.
  • Lead pricing and contract reviews with carriers and shippers to identify pass-through or indemnity clauses that impact excise liabilities and advise on contract language to mitigate tax risk.
  • Support client business development and proposals by scoping transportation and excise tax engagements, estimating fees, preparing client-facing deliverables, and articulating value propositions.
  • Implement continuous improvement initiatives for transportation and excise tax processes, including automation of repetitive tasks, adoption of digital workflows, and integration of tax technology to reduce manual effort and error rates.
  • Coordinate with cross-border trade teams on interplay between customs duties, fuel taxes and excise regimes where international shipments or transborder fleet operations create mixed tax exposures.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
  • Prepare executive dashboards and KPI reporting on tax liabilities, refund pipeline, audit status and process efficiency metrics.
  • Mentor junior consultants and analysts on technical excise tax topics and client engagement best practices.
  • Support thought leadership by drafting client alerts, whitepapers, and internal training materials on transportation and excise tax trends.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Deep working knowledge of transportation-related excise taxes and fees including federal fuel excise, state motor fuel taxes, HUT (Heavy Vehicle Use Tax), aviation excise duties, and environmental/low carbon fuel fees.
  • Proficiency with indirect tax calculation engines and tax technology platforms (Vertex, Sovos, Avalara, Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE) and hands-on experience configuring rate libraries and tax rules for excise scenarios.
  • Strong ERP integration experience (SAP FI/CO/SD/MM, Oracle E-Business Suite or Cloud) to map source transactions to excise tax calculations and tax accounting.
  • Advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, Power Query, Power Pivot), with ability to build large-scale refund/recovery models and reconcile operational and accounting data.
  • Experience with SQL and data extraction from TMS, fuel card vendors, telematics platforms and PL/SQL or other query languages to support data-driven tax analysis.
  • Ability to prepare and review excise tax returns and refund claims across multiple jurisdictions, including drafting supporting schedules and legal substantiation.
  • Detailed knowledge of customs classification (HTS/HS codes), tariff schedules and how customs duties interact with excise and transportation taxes.
  • Practical experience with tax audit defense — assembling documentation, preparing responses, negotiating settlements and managing appeals.
  • Familiarity with ASC 740 tax accounting principles and experience coordinating with financial statement preparers and auditors on excise-related provisions.
  • Competence with workflow and document management systems to maintain audit-ready files and track statute of limitations for claims and assessments.

Soft Skills

  • Excellent written and verbal communication — able to translate complex tax rules into clear business guidance and client-facing deliverables.
  • Strong project management and stakeholder management skills — orchestrating cross-functional teams, third-party vendors and external advisors to deliver projects on-time and on-budget.
  • Analytical mindset with high attention to detail and the ability to synthesize quantitative and regulatory information into actionable recommendations.
  • Client-service orientation with persuasive presentation skills and ability to manage expectations during audits, filing cycles and remediation projects.
  • Adaptability and curiosity — comfortable operating in evolving regulatory environments and rapidly changing operational data landscapes.
  • Leadership and mentoring capabilities — training junior staff and building knowledge within the broader tax function.
  • Negotiation and conflict resolution skills for managing disputes with tax authorities and commercial partners.
  • Time management and prioritization under competing deadlines and multiple client engagements.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Taxation, Economics, Supply Chain Management, or a related discipline.

Preferred Education:

  • Master’s degree in Taxation, MBA, or law degree (JD) with tax coursework.
  • CPA, EA, or other professional tax qualifications preferred.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Accounting
  • Taxation and Public Policy
  • Supply Chain / Logistics
  • Economics
  • International Trade / Customs

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 4–8 years of progressive experience in transportation tax, excise tax, indirect tax or customs & trade compliance within a public accounting firm, consulting practice, industry tax department or logistics company.

Preferred:

  • 6+ years with demonstrable experience managing excise tax filings and audits, configuring tax engines, and leading cross-functional implementation projects for transportation or fuel-intensive clients.
  • Prior experience with multinational operations and cross-border tax exposures is a plus.
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