Tax Accountant

Job Description

Job Description

Tax Accountant

Company: American Life Financial Partners, LLC / American Life (American Life & Security Corp.)
Location: Lincoln, NE

About Us

American Life is a cutting-edge, tech-forward life and annuity insurance carrier. As a subsidiary of American Life Financial Partners, LLC—alongside sister companies Seneca Re and 1505 Capital—we combine industry best practices with state-of-the-art, entirely cloud-based digital platforms to deliver market-leading retirement solutions. Backed by explosive growth, a solid AM Best B++ financial strength rating, and a commitment to challenging the status quo, we are modernizing insurance operations.

Our core operating entity, American Life & Security Corp. (ALSC), is a fast-growing annuity carrier with Assets under Management (AUM) approaching $8 billion and annual sales approaching $1.5 billion driven by our competitive Multi-Year Guarantee Annuity (MYGA) and Fixed Index Annuity (FIA) portfolios.

At American Life Financial Partners, LLC, our accounting, and finance infrastructure operates across both Statutory and GAAP reporting frameworks. We are expanding this financial core and seeking a visionary, system-savvy Tax Accountant to spearhead all aspects of state premium tax, annuitant, distribution tax reporting and help the technological transformation to OneSource™ tax software.

Our Cultural & Core Values

Our finance team thrives on a high-performance, high-trust culture. We expect our leaders to live these values daily:

• Accountability: Earn confidence and trust by demonstrating ownership, commitment, and follow-through in achieving results. Asking for help is being accountable and a sign of strength (not weakness).
• Achieve Results: Understand the key priorities of the CFO for the year, quarter, month, and week. Be a “productive unicorn” not a “busy mule.” We are productive, not busy.
• Act with Integrity: This industry is built on trust and integrity. If you pause to ask, “is this ok to be doing...?” it is not ok. Transparency builds trust; do what is right.
• Agility: Manage priorities effectively and adapt quickly to achieve goals.
• Business Acumen: Build a deep understanding of the business to guide decisions and actions that support strategy.
• Communication: Inform and influence others clearly, timely, and appropriately.
• Courage: Do not be afraid to speak up when it matters, ask tough questions, make decisions, and/or admit when help is needed and when you are wrong.
• Development: Exhibit curiosity and pursue learning opportunities.
• Focus on the Customer: Our CFO motto is “Trusted business partners.” Be sure you understand the customers’ needs/problem before trying to help.
• Inclusion: Drive collaborative solutions and results by seeking and valuing diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives from our customers.
• Resilience: Adapt and thrive in complex, uncertain, and changing situations.
• Self–Awareness: Demonstrate the ability to identify, assess, and manage the interpersonal dynamics of yourself and others in a variety of situations. Share positive and negative feedback on the behavior (not the person).
• Value People: PEOPLE are our only sustainable competitive advantage.
• Work Collaboratively: We are a fast-growing company. Whether you are in Lincoln, Nebraska, NYC, or remote, we are stronger as an informed team. Transparency builds trust.

Position Overview

The Tax Accountant will provide core operational support to the Senior Tax Accounting and Planning Lead. This role focuses on day-to-day corporate tax compliance, monthly data preparation, and backup withholding execution. You will act as a key execution engine during critical system migrations, regulatory filings, and business inquiry resolutions. This position blends foundational insurance tax accounting with modern enterprise cloud data environments.

Reporting Structure

• Reports to: Head of Accounting Systems & Financial Reporting

Key Deliverables & Responsibilities

Spring Information Reporting (Form 5498)

• Form 5498 Lifecycle: Own the end-to-end data validation and generation process for IRS Form 5498 (IRA Contribution Information) for Qualified Annuities.
• Fair Market Value Auditing: Verify prior-year December 31 Fair Market Value (FMV) ledger balances against administrative systems for accurate reporting.
• Contribution & RMD Validation: Audit and reconcile rollover, regular contribution, and Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) flags before the annual May 31 filing deadline .
• Corrected Filings: Process corrected Form 5498 filings stemming from late prior-year agent transactions or administrative adjustments.

IMO & Contractor Withholding Operations

• IMO 1099 Compliance: Manage the end-to-end withholding and information reporting lifecycle for Independent Marketing Organizations (IMOs) and independent agents.
• Backup Withholding: Execute and track backup withholdings for 1099 contractors who fail to provide valid Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TINs).
• 1099 Forms Production: Oversee data consolidation and validation for the annual generation of Form 1099-NEC and Form 1099-MISC.
• Vendor Reconciliations: Perform monthly audit checks matching commission ledger payouts against tax withholding accounts.

Ad Hoc Field Inquiry Support

• Field Problem Solving: Serve as the primary internal resource to answer ad hoc tax questions from agents, IMOs, and customer service teams.
• Annuity Death Benefits: Provide clear guidance on the taxation of annuity death benefits, including lump-sum payouts vs. systematic distributions.
• Surrender Tax Questions: Research and address technical queries regarding the taxable gain embedded in full or partial policy surrenders.
• Agent 1099 Inquiries: Resolve commission tax disputes, address corrected 1099 requests, and interpret IRS guidelines for the distribution field force.

Withholding & Operations (Annuitant Distributions)

• Weekly EFT Processing: Manage and execute weekly Electronic Funds Transfers (EFT) for federal and state tax withholdings.
• Form 945 Compliance: Prepare annual Form 945 (Annual Return of Withheld Federal Income Tax) for non-payroll distributions.
• Form 945A Maintenance: Maintain daily liabilities on Form 945A to match semi-weekly or next-day deposit schedules.
• Surrender Tracking: Track federal income tax withheld from annuitant surrenders, lump-sum distributions, and periodic payments.
• Reconcile Holdings: Perform weekly reconciliations between distribution administration platforms and ledger cash accounts.

Tax Filing & Compliance Support

• Assist Compliance Cycle: Support the end-to-end execution of Federal, State, and Premium tax filings.
• Strengthen Controls: Maintain detailed documentation for internal tax workflows to support robust internal controls.
• Data Gathering: Extract and organize accounting data required by corporate Legal, external advisors (Crowe LLP), and affiliate teams.

Accounting for Income Taxes

• DTA Administration: Maintain sub-ledgers and schedules for Deferred Tax Assets (DTAs) to support strategic valuation allowance evaluations.
• Consolidated Provisions: Assist in calculating the consolidated MWH Federal tax provision under the updated WWH tax-sharing agreement.
• Affiliate Tracking: Apply the dynamic tax-sharing protocol to calculate and track provisions across affiliates, including Vermont (VT) Captives and ALSC.
• Dual-Basis Support: Prepare workpapers that align with both required reporting standard bases.

Technology & Data Infrastructure

• Excel Migration: Assist in moving legacy tax provision workflows out of offline Excel models.
• Cloud Integration: Learn and utilize Oracle Ledger and Databricks to extract data and automate routine tax calculations.
• Data Hygiene: Validate data integrity between source financial systems and tax software tools.

Month-End Close & Operations

• Monthly Cadence: Execute tasks within a rigid monthly tax close cadence via Oracle, moving away from quarterly cycles.
• Monthly Accruals: Prepare monthly tax accruals and journal entries accurately and within tight close timelines.
• Account Reconciliations: Perform monthly reconciliations for all tax balance sheet accounts.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, or a related field.
• Experience: 1–3 years of corporate tax, public accounting, or insurance/annuity tax operations experience.
• Tax Knowledge: Foundational knowledge of IRS Form 5498 , Form 1099 rules, backup withholding, Form 945 deposit rules, and corporate income tax (ASC 740 / SSAP 101).
• Systems: Intermediate to advanced Excel skills; familiarity with Oracle Ledger , Databricks , IRS EFTPS , or information reporting filing platforms is preferred.
• Communication: Strong verbal and written communication skills to handle technical tax questions from non-accounting professionals.
• Attributes: High attention to detail, strong problem-solving skills, and an eagerness to learn cloud-based financial data tools.

Work Authorization/Security Clearance  

Must be eligible to work in the United States. 

Work Environment  

This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines. 

AAP/EEO Statement  

American Life is an Equal Opportunity Employer.  

If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at View phone number on us.fitly.work. 

Other Duties  

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.