Associate Manager - Fuel Tax

• Overall 10+ years of experience in Tax Domain.
• 5+ years of experience in Sales tax, Indirect tax

Operational Leadership

Lead the day-to-day Fuel Tax operations ensuring timely completion of tax filings, tax payments, reconciliations, and compliance activities.
Manage a team of Analysts and Senior Analysts by assigning workloads, monitoring productivity, and ensuring adherence to service level agreements (SLAs).
Review key tax filings, reconciliations, journal entries, and exception reports before submission.
Ensure all filing deadlines are consistently achieved with zero compliance penalties.

Tax Compliance & Reporting

Oversee preparation, review, filing, and payment of Federal Excise Fuel Tax and State Motor Fuel Tax returns.
Ensure accurate reconciliation of Fuel Tax General Ledger accounts and timely resolution of reconciling items.
Review monthly, quarterly, and annual tax reporting deliverables.
Ensure compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local fuel tax regulations.

Internal Controls (SOX)

Own Fuel Tax SOX controls and ensure effective execution of all control activities.
Review control evidence, documentation, and testing performed by the team.
Coordinate with Internal Audit and External Audit teams.
Ensure timely remediation of audit findings and control deficiencies.
Drive continuous improvement of the internal control environment.

Audit Management

Lead responses to federal and state fuel tax audits.
Coordinate documentation requests from taxing authorities.
Review audit workpapers prepared by the team.
Partner with Tax Leadership on audit strategy and issue resolution.
Ensure complete audit readiness through proper documentation and record retention.

Process Improvement

Identify opportunities to automate manual processes.
Partner with IT, Business Systems, and vendors (e.g., Avalara Excise) to improve system functionality.
Lead implementation of process improvement initiatives using Lean methodologies.
Reduce manual effort while improving quality and compliance.
Standardize processes across jurisdictions.

Tax Research

Monitor legislative and regulatory changes impacting fuel taxation.
Assess operational and financial impact of new tax laws.
Recommend process or system updates to maintain compliance.
Provide technical guidance to the business on fuel tax matters.

Stakeholder Management

Act as the primary point of contact between Fuel Tax Operations and:
Corporate Tax
Accounting
Fuel Accounting
Treasury
Operations
Internal Audit
External Auditors
State and Federal Tax Authorities
Present operational metrics and compliance updates to leadership.
Support business initiatives involving new products, new states, acquisitions, and system implementations.

People Leadership

Lead, coach, mentor, and develop Fuel Tax team members.
Conduct performance reviews and development discussions.
Develop succession plans and cross-training programs.
Build a high-performance culture focused on accountability, ownership, and continuous improvement.
Support recruitment, onboarding, and training of new team members.

Performance Management

Establish and monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Analyse operational trends and identify risks.
Conduct Root Cause Analysis (RCA) for recurring issues.
Prepare weekly and monthly leadership dashboards.
Drive continuous improvements in quality, productivity, and compliance.

Risk Management

Identify operational and compliance risks.
Implement preventive and detective controls.
Ensure compliance with company policies and regulatory requirements.
Escalate significant risks to leadership with mitigation plans.