WHAT DOES AN INTERNATIONAL TAX DIRECTOR DO?
Reviewed under Editorial Standards by Lam Nguyen

Updated: Nov 17, 2025 - The International Tax Director delivers comprehensive global tax services, including planning, consulting, and compliance across diverse industries. This role develops strategic international tax structures, optimizes cross-border transactions, and ensures alignment with global tax regulations. The director also leads teams, drives business development initiatives, and enhances client understanding of complex international tax implications.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for International Tax Director

1. International Tax Director Duties

  • Data Modeling: Develop analytical quantitative modeling and data support for the tax planning team, and provide technical review, support, and project management of strategic initiatives
  • Risk Analysis: Provide technical risk and quantitative impact analysis concerning legislative proposals to VMware’s international tax position
  • Documentation Management: Oversee maintenance of supporting documentation for previously taxed earnings and profits, foreign taxes, and tax basis for foreign subsidiaries and/or branches
  • Repatriation Analysis: Facilitate quantitative analysis for repatriation and general planning purposes
  • Audit Management: Assist in the management and defense of tax audits
  • Process Evaluation: Evaluate current processes and workflow
  • Process Improvement: Recommend and implement improvements
  • Tax Review: Review of components of GILTI, FDII, BEAT, FTC, and Subpart F for the quarterly close process
  • Model Updates: Review APB23 model updates, Sec. 987 calculation updates, tax basis calculations, and asset allocation calculation updates for the FTC model
  • Form Review: Review Forms 5471 for controlled foreign corporations and 8858 for foreign disregarded entities
  • Distribution Analysis: Review analysis of taxable distributions
  • Election Review: Review required elections and disclosures, such as check-the-box elections, DCLs, etc.

2. International Tax Director Details

  • Global Collaboration: Work with finance and tax executives across the organization globally
  • Skill Development: Develop a broader range of tax skills as time passes
  • Direct Reporting: Report directly to the Head of Tax
  • Team Coordination: Work with multi-functional teams across the organization
  • Return Review: Review complex partnership and corporate tax returns including international components for these returns
  • Client Consulting: Consult with clients and other CLA team members on business processes such as compliance, operations and tax planning
  • Engagement Management: Lead, schedule, supervise, and review tax engagements
  • Team Training: Develop and train team members to help them build inspired careers
  • Opportunity Building: Foster and build opportunities for clients, communities, and people
  • Tax Procedures: Perform a range of tax procedures in accordance with the size and complexity of the engagement

3. Senior International Tax Director Responsibilities

  • Tax Strategy: Strategy, planning, advice, research, evolving tax law and tax policy analysis
  • Repatriation Planning: Foreign dividend repatriation strategy and policies, including withholding reduction strategies
  • Credit Management: Foreign Tax Credit and Foreign Source Income planning to ensure Foreign Tax Credits do not expire unused
  • Authority Negotiation: Competent authority negotiations involving another government (e.g., a dispute over which country gets to tax intercompany royalties)
  • Structural Design: Strategic structuring of complex arrangements (e.g., Brita Canadian Structure)
  • Mobility Analysis: Evaluation and advice related to international employee movements and their likelihood of creating permanent business establishments in other countries
  • Legislative Assessment: Analyzing potential effects, assessing appropriate actions, and communicating to VP Taxes and Senior Management the international aspects of evolving tax law changes
  • Global Compliance: Ultimately responsible for all tax filings, for all tax types (income, withholding, VAT, GST, etc.), for the taxation of international earnings and for LATAM
  • Regional Oversight: Dotted line responsibilities for tax filings in foreign countries outside of LATAM
  • Income Reporting: Federal and state reporting of foreign income under Subpart F and GILTI
  • Source Determination: Determination of Foreign Source Income and Foreign Tax Credits
  • Form Preparation: Preparation of extensive multi-page federal forms reporting international activity such as forms 966, 1118, 5471 (approximately 50), 5713, 8865 (approximately 6), 8990, 8991, 8993
  • Provision Analysis: Determine international income tax expense and balance sheet liabilities under ASC 740 for SEC financial reporting purposes, with attendant 10K disclosures
  • Reserve Evaluation: Determine international uncertain tax positions (audit reserves) for financial reporting
  • Transfer Pricing: Setting of prices charged between related entities to ensure they are at arm's length while also optimizing worldwide tax posture
  • Due Diligence: Due diligence around a target’s tax posture, tax exposures and risks, strength of tax compliance
  • Deal Structuring: Structuring of deal to optimize taxes (e.g., choices of legal entity types, structures, ownership, location, choices of acquisition type - assets, stock, combination, pricing arrangements)
  • Post Integration: Post-deal arrangements, such as transition services agreements

4. International Tax Director Job Summary

  • Tax Services: Deliver a full range of international tax services for multiple clients in a wide variety of industries
  • Client Interaction: Interacting closely with clients to formulate, develop, and deliver innovative international tax planning, consulting, and compliance expertise
  • Staff Management: Develop and manage staff, and go to market with partners and staff on practice and business development activities
  • Tax Advisory: Advising multinational companies on the tax implications of their international operations
  • Strategy Coordination: Coordinating tax laws with foreign tax laws to develop an optimal global tax strategy
  • Transaction Planning: Consulting with clients on tax-efficient structuring of international transactions, effective use of tax treaties, and planning related to offshore investment activities and repatriation programs to minimize foreign income taxes of multinational clients
  • Investment Structuring: Advising and structuring foreign companies and persons' inbound investment including withholding tax planning, treaty planning and FIRPTA
  • Project Development: Development of a project vision and establishment of challenging personal and client service team goals
  • Client Education: Facilitating client understanding of the implications of international tax developments
  • Practice Integration: Integrating practice development skills into a team approach to client service and business development

5. Senior International Tax Director Accountabilities

  • Tax Advisory: Advising clients on outbound and inbound tax planning and structuring
  • Tax Research: Researching and consulting on various international tax matters
  • M&A Support: Performing due diligence and structuring to support the M&A practice
  • Global Collaboration: Working with RSM member firms around the world
  • Material Development: Working with team members in developing and creating, proposing and marketing materials
  • Service Expansion: Be a driving force in the growth and expansion of International Tax services throughout the region
  • Project Review: Reviewing quantitative analysis and projects of tax associates and seniors
  • Inquiry Response: Responding to inquiries from the IRS and other tax authorities
  • Staff Training: Assisting in staff development and training
  • Client Interaction: Interacting with managers, directors and partners and clients
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Lamwork content is developed through structured review of publicly available job postings and documented hiring trends.

Editorial operations are managed by Thanh Huyen, Managing Editor, with research direction and final oversight by Lam Nguyen, Founder & Editorial Lead. Content is periodically reviewed to reflect observable labor market changes.

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