Tax Lead, Controversy (Canada )
- Canada
Full-time
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Job details
- Job type
- Full-time
- Experience
- 7+ years of relevant tax experience in a Big 4 firm, law firm, and/or a multinational in-house tax department, with high exposure to tax controversy and audit defense.
- Posting language
- English
- Posted
Original job description
About The Role
Your role as Tax Lead - Controversy will include managing the full lifecycle of tax audits, examinations, and disputes across corporate income tax. You will be the connective tissue between tax authorities, outside advisors, and Shopify's internal teams - protecting the company's positions while providing leadership with visibility and advice during audits. You’ll leverage AI and automation to streamline audit workflows, synthesize large volumes of financial data/systems, tax documentation and optimize the speed and quality of audit responses.
What You'll Do
Opportunity is not evenly distributed. Shopify puts independence within reach for anyone with a dream to start a business. We propel entrepreneurs and enterprises to scale the heights of their potential. Since 2006, we’ve grown to over 8,300 employees and generated over $1 trillion in sales for millions of merchants in 175 countries.
This is life-defining work that directly impacts people’s lives as much as it transforms your own. This is putting the power of the few in the hands of the many, is a future with more voices rather than fewer, and is creating more choices instead of an elite option.
About You
Moving at our pace brings a lot of change, complexity, and ambiguity - and a little bit of chaos. Shopifolk thrive on that and are comfortable being uncomfortable. That means Shopify is not the right place for everyone.
Before you apply, consider if you can:
Your role as Tax Lead - Controversy will include managing the full lifecycle of tax audits, examinations, and disputes across corporate income tax. You will be the connective tissue between tax authorities, outside advisors, and Shopify's internal teams - protecting the company's positions while providing leadership with visibility and advice during audits. You’ll leverage AI and automation to streamline audit workflows, synthesize large volumes of financial data/systems, tax documentation and optimize the speed and quality of audit responses.
What You'll Do
- Manage global income tax audits from initial notice through resolution, including information document requests, drafting responses, and managing timelines and deadlines.
- Build audit-ready documentation and defense files for tax positions.
- Develop and manage relationships with tax authorities (CRA, IRS, and international revenue agencies) and external advisors, serving as a primary point of contact during examinations.
- Advise on settlement strategy, appeals, competent authority / MAP proceedings, and voluntary disclosures where appropriate.
- Own the global controversy process that gives leadership real-time visibility into audit status, exposure, and reserve movements.
- Partner with transfer pricing, tax planning, compliance and legal teams to achieve best outcome from audits from taxing authorities
- 7+ years of relevant tax experience in a Big 4 firm, law firm, and/or a multinational in-house tax department, with high exposure to tax controversy and audit defense.
- Hands-on experience managing audits with the CRA, IRS, or comparable international tax authorities.
- Excellent written and verbal communication - ability to make persuasive technical arguments to an auditor and a clear risk summary to leadership.
- Strong project management instincts and comfort operating with limited processes in a fast-moving, high-growth environment.
- A data-forward mindset - ability to interpret tax calculations and models, and enable the evidence to drive the position.
- Ability to independently work with financial systems eg: Netsuite, Oracle, SAP
- Professional designation preferred: CPA, CA, JD/LLM (Tax), or equivalent.
- Experience in technology, SaaS, payments, or high-growth commerce.
- Exposure to international tax matters: MAP / competent authority, transfer pricing, permanent establishment, and cross-border transactions.
- Familiarity with tax provision and analytics tooling and a habit of automating the tedious parts.
Opportunity is not evenly distributed. Shopify puts independence within reach for anyone with a dream to start a business. We propel entrepreneurs and enterprises to scale the heights of their potential. Since 2006, we’ve grown to over 8,300 employees and generated over $1 trillion in sales for millions of merchants in 175 countries.
This is life-defining work that directly impacts people’s lives as much as it transforms your own. This is putting the power of the few in the hands of the many, is a future with more voices rather than fewer, and is creating more choices instead of an elite option.
About You
Moving at our pace brings a lot of change, complexity, and ambiguity - and a little bit of chaos. Shopifolk thrive on that and are comfortable being uncomfortable. That means Shopify is not the right place for everyone.
Before you apply, consider if you can:
- Care deeply about what you do and about making commerce better for everyone
- Excel by seeking professional and personal hypergrowth
- Keep up with an unrelenting pace (the week, not the quarter)
- Be resilient and resourceful in face of ambiguity and thrive on (rather than endure) change
- Bring critical thought and opinion
- Put AI agents and tools to work on the tasks they're built for, and focus on the work only humans can do
- Embrace differences and disagreement to get shit done and move forward
- Work digital-first for your daily work
More about this job
Responsibilities
Manage global corporate income tax audits and disputes from initial notice through resolution, including information requests, response drafting, deadlines, and audit defense documentation. Coordinate with tax authorities, external advisors, and internal teams; advise on settlements and appeals; and provide leadership with visibility into audit status, exposure, and reserves.
Requirements
Requires at least 7 years of relevant tax experience, substantial tax controversy and audit defense exposure, and hands-on experience managing audits with the CRA, IRS, or comparable authorities. Candidates should bring strong communication and project management skills, data analysis capabilities, and the ability to work independently with financial systems; a CPA, CA, JD/LLM in Tax, or equivalent is preferred.
Skills
- Tax Controversy
- Tax Audit Management
- Audit Defense
- Tax Authority Relations
- Tax Dispute Resolution
- Settlement Strategy
- Appeals
- Competent Authority Proceedings
- Mutual Agreement Procedure
- Transfer Pricing
- International Tax
- Project Management
- Financial Data Analysis
- Tax Documentation
- AI and Automation
- Financial Systems
Visa sponsorship
Not detected in the job text
Categories
- Finance & Accounting
- Legal
- Management & Leadership
- Data & Analytics
- Technology
Keywords
- Corporate Income Tax
- Tax Controversy
- Tax Audits
- Audit Defense
- Information Document Requests
- Tax Authority Relations
- CRA
- IRS
- International Revenue Agencies
- Settlement Strategy
- Appeals
- Competent Authority
- Mutual Agreement Procedure
- Voluntary Disclosures
- Transfer Pricing
- Permanent Establishment
- Cross-Border Transactions
- Tax Provision
- Tax Analytics
- AI
- Automation
- Financial Data
- NetSuite
- Oracle
- SAP
- CPA
- CA
- JD/LLM (Tax)
- SaaS
- Payments