Rental Expert and Tax Strategist Pod Role: Tax Strategist Emphasis

Posted Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Thank you for your interest in WCG. The following is high-level information for our Rental Expert and Tax Strategist (RETS) Pod, with a Tax Strategist emphasis (we also have another role on RETS specifically for Tax Accountant emphasis).

Who Is WCG

WCG CPAs & Advisors isn't your typical CPA firm, and if you've spent any time in public accounting, you already know that's either a red flag or a relief. For the right person, it's the latter.

Headquartered in Colorado Springs with team members across the U.S. and in India, we're a methodically growing firm with 7 partners, over 90 full-time team members, and projected 2026 revenues of $12.7M, representing about 14% year-over-year growth. We grow because our model works, not because we say yes to everything.

We offer the depth of a mid-size firm with the focus and personality of a boutique. We play in specific sandboxes- small business owners in S Corps, Partnerships, and PCs; complex individual tax, and real estate investors, and we play in them very well. Real estate and rental activity planning alone represents over 40% of our advisory work and is our fastest-growing segment.

No billable hours. No six-minute increments. No stuffiness. We operate on a value-based, next-gen advisory model built around annual service offerings that combine tax return preparation, routine consultation, and strategic planning. A tax return, in our world, is the result of a year's worth of conversations, not a transaction.

If that sounds like the environment you've been looking for, keep reading.

Last updated- Sunday, April 19, 2026

WCG Team Overviews

Support Team

Everything starts and ends with our Support Team, and we mean that. Their mission is to make clients' lives better and to back up every other team at WCG. The Support Team runs in four lanes:

  • Client Support: Our frontline team handling phone calls, chats, texts, and general email inquiries. First impressions live here. The rest of the WCG team spends every day trying to live up to it.
  • Tax Support: Our largest segment and does the heavy lifting on both ends of the tax return process. They handle front-end data collection (IDP, which stands for Information and Data Processing... yeah, the name is a little stale, but the function is mission-critical) and back-end assembly using SurePrep. They also collect payments, obtain e-file authorizations via Canopy, and file about 75% of our tax return extensions.
  • Operations Support: Led by a full-time CPA and former tax manager whose job is to keep the trains running on time across all teams and to surface the right information to WCG leadership and Pod leaders.
  • Human Resources: Led by our dedicated HR Manager who ensures compliance, sure, but whose primary function is supporting the team with their needs from travel and IT to family leave, the firmwide calendar, and beyond.

Tax Prep Team

We use Thomson Reuters UltraTax in a dedicated hosted environment, paired with SurePrep (including 1040SCAN) for electronic binders and annotations.

For the 2025 tax year, our team will prepare approximately 5,800 returns, a clean 60/40 split between individual and business entity returns. Because our Tax team has a well-documented fondness for summers, we push hard to complete 65% of returns by April 15, leaving May through July open primarily for tax planning work.

Over 50 Tax team members make this happen, including our 11 dedicated team members in India.

Rental Expert and Tax Strategy Pod

Real estate and advanced tax planning are core niches at WCG, so we built a team specifically for them rather than leaving it to generalists.

The RETS Pod works behind the scenes to support our primary tax Pods on the technical heavy lifting: initial asset setups, cost segregation studies (including fun 3115/481(a) adjustments), the short-term rental loophole, and Real Estate Professional Status (REPS) analysis..

We use a structured three-session process (Foundation, Exploration, and Execution) to map a client's full tax exposure and build an actionable strategy. We replace promoter math with real math, stress-testing every advanced strategy against what we call the 3-Legged Stool: a client's actual cash, effort, and risk tolerance.

2025 tax returns due in 2026 was our first time with the RETS Pod (fka, the rental expert pod). We had some bumps and bruises, and we have a lot of growing yet to do. Our ideal world is for all rental activities and related niche investments be handled by the RETS Pod leaving the remaining pieces of the tax return to be completed by other WCG tax accountants. Two exceptions: a real estate holding company that files a partnership return, and a super simple 1040 where the rental and investment activities are the main event. Those get handled tip to tail by the RETS Pod.

If real estate tax strategy is your thing, this is where WCG is investing. We currently have 5 team members in this pod and are aiming for 9-10 by the end of 2026 to support our fastest-growing client segment as we continue the evolution from the original Rental Expert Pod to the 2.0, or the RETS Pod.

Accounting Services Team

At WCG, Accounting Services means Bookkeeping + Analysis, not just reconciliations. There's a meaningful difference, and our clients feel it in their financial reporting, real-time tax planning, and day-to-day decision-making.

Our 11-person team (including a small group in India) each works with 25-30 clients using QuickBooks Online, Xero, and REIHub exclusively. No desktop, no Freshbooks, no whatever whatever. We also use Reach Reporting to give business owners a visual, trend-based view of their financials. Because a graph tells a story that a spreadsheet sometimes can't.

On cadence, we intentionally skip quarterly. Monthly, bi-monthly, and quad-monthly schedules let us smooth the workflow across the year so our team isn't buried in crazy Aprils, Julys, and Octobers. It's a small structural decision that makes a big difference for both the team and the client.

Accounting Services also handles sales and use tax filings and personal property tax. Clean, focused, genuinely valuable work.

Payroll Processing Team

WCG has processed payroll for over 800 small businesses for years. We're proud of that. But in summer 2026, we're making a deliberate shift, transitioning all payroll clients to ADP or Paychex for client-direct processing.

This isn't a retreat, it's a reset with intention. Payroll processing, done right, demands its own infrastructure, attention, and resources. By stepping back from it, we're doubling down on what we do best: high-level advisory, tax strategy, and the consultative work that actually moves the needle for our clients.

WCG is getting sharper on purpose. Read our Reset With Intention webpage for more information on our 2026 initiatives.

Business Development Team

Our 6-person Biz Dev team is the engine behind WCG's growth, specifically our advisory segment as opposed to tax-only engagements (we call those TOEs). They draft proposals, re-paper existing engagements, handle corporate governance matters like entity formations and S Corp elections, and own the onboarding process from first inquiry to fully engaged client.

The Biz Dev team works hand-in-hand with our Client Acquisition Team (the CAT) to make sure every prospect gets a thoughtful, human experience as they transition into a WCG engagement.

This isn't a sales team. Prospects come to us primarily through our website, content, and referrals. We average 6-7 inquiries per day, and 2 out of 3 are from high income earners who want tax reduction strategies through short-term rentals and other niche assets.

The Biz Dev team's job is to listen well, match the right engagement to the right client, and make WCG easy to say yes to.

Locations

In addition to over 35 remote team members, our physical footprint includes:

  • Headquarters: 2393 Flying Horse Club Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80921
  • South Dakota: 300 North Main Street, Mitchell, SD 57301
  • Wyoming: 920 E Sheridan Street Suite B, Laramie, WY 82072
  • India: 705 Sankalp Square-3, Sindhu Bhavan Marg, Ahmedabad, Gujarat

RETS Pod Tax Strategist Intro

The RETS Pod has two distinct roles. This is the Tax Strategist role, strategy-forward with a compliance layer during tax season. You are primarily running advisory sessions, stress-testing advanced strategies, and leading client-facing planning conversations across the full landscape of real estate and niche asset tax strategy. Tax return preparation happens during season alongside your RETS Pod teammates, but it is not the primary job. If you are more energized by the preparation work and want to build deep compliance expertise in real estate tax, the RETS Pod Tax Accountant role might be a better fit.

Most tax professionals who find their way into strategy work got there the same way: they kept getting pulled into the harder conversations. The client with the syndicate pitch deck. The high earner who heard about the short-term rental loophole at a conference. The business owner sitting on a big capital gain with no plan. At some point, the strategy conversation became the job, not a detour from it. If that is your story, keep reading

The Tax Strategist is WCG’s most senior client-facing tax role outside of Partner. A significant part of this role is owning two structured client-facing offerings (in addition to ad hoc strategy sessions)-

  • The Aspen Tax Strategy Series is WCG’s flagship planning engagement. Three sessions, one execution blueprint. Session one maps the client’s wealth trajectory, taxable surface, income structures, liquidity limits, and risk tolerance. Session two stress-tests surviving strategies against real constraints and eliminates the poor fits. Session three runs the actual math, models first-year cash-on-cash return, forecasts exit and recapture impact, and delivers the blueprint. This is not a conversation. It is a structured diagnostic with a deliverable at the end.
  • The STR Quick Launch is a tighter engagement built for clients seriously considering a short-term rental before pulling the trigger. It works through loophole fundamentals, material participation feasibility, cost segregation, depreciation modeling, and first-year tax impact, including a multi-year horizon and exit analysis. It answers the question every serious STR prospect has: do the numbers actually work for my situation.

You run point on both. Intake, session facilitation, the math, and the delivery conversation.

That work requires fluency across the full advanced strategy landscape:

  • Core real estate tax mechanics: short-term rental loophole, REPS qualification, cost segregation, Excess Business Loss planning, and 1031 exchange and exit strategy.
  • Niche asset depreciation plays: car washes, gas stations, self-storage facilities, mobile home parks, and laundromats.
  • Alternative investment structures: structured equipment leases, oil and gas working interests, and real estate syndicate evaluation.
  • High-complexity strategies: captive insurance, conservation easements, deferred sales trusts, monetized installment sales, and charitable remainder trust. Frankly these are mostly garbage, but you need to understand them to articulate the risks.

That is not a training list. It is the minimum starting point.

We can teach you our process. We cannot teach you to be someone clients trust when the news is hard and the stakes are high. That part has to already be there.

This role is new at WCG, and the person who steps into it will help define what it becomes.

Is This You?

This role is a strong fit if you are…

Someone who has already had the hard conversations: telling a client their promoter was wrong, redirecting someone who fell in love with a bad idea, explaining why the tax math does not work the way the slide deck said it would. Someone who can hold that conversation with a sophisticated investor and then pivot to explain the same concept to someone whose eyes are glazing over. Different clients speak different tax love languages. You need to be fluent in all of them.

Wired for intellectual honesty. WCG replaces promoter math with real math. The people running strategy sessions need to be built the same way.

A quick reality check…

The bar is high. Not measured in years, but in hard conversations actually had. You know what the room feels like when someone is about to make a bad financial decision because of a tax deduction. And you know how to handle it.

During tax season you are a full RETS Pod contributor. Tax return preparation and compliance is not beneath you. It is part of the job.

This role is still being built. If you need every process finalized before doing your best work, the timing is off. If you want to help build the playbook, keep reading.

Basics

Applicants Must

  • Hold an active CPA or EA license. No exceptions. The credibility and ethical grounding that comes with licensure is non-negotiable for this level of client-facing strategy work.
  • Bring substantial client-facing experience, meaning you have regularly led complex tax conversations with real clients, not just reviewed returns or answered email questions. Discovery calls, strategy sessions, difficult redirects, and delivering bad news gracefully are all part of this picture.
  • Have working knowledge of the full advanced tax strategy landscape, including real estate tax mechanics, niche asset depreciation plays, alternative investment structures, and high-complexity strategies. See WCG’s Advanced Tax Strategies webpage. This is not a learn-on-the-job list.
  • Be able to explain any of the above to a client who has never heard the term, and to a client who thinks they already understand it but does not. Both conversations happen regularly.
  • Demonstrate genuine intellectual honesty about strategy risk. WCG is agnostic and analytical, not promotional. You need to be wired that way, not just willing to perform it.
  • Be comfortable with ambiguity in a role that is still being defined. You will have opinions about how it should work. Those opinions are welcome and expected.
  • Contribute to tax return preparation during tax season as a full RETS Pod member.
  • Stay current on a fast-moving promoter-driven landscape. IRS guidance, Tax Court decisions, and legislative changes are not background noise here. They are part of this role.

Nice To Haves

  • Current or previous rental property or real estate investment ownership experience. Clients notice immediately when the person advising them has actually been a real estate investor, a limited partner, business owner or an STR operator.
  • Prior experience evaluating or stress-testing third-party promoter materials, syndicate pitch decks, or cost segregation reports on behalf of a client. Knowing how to read a pro forma with healthy skepticism is a skill that takes repetition to develop.
  • Familiarity with liquidity event planning, including business sales, 1031 exchanges, and the intersection of exit strategy with depreciation recapture. Many RETS clients are also business owners who will eventually sell something.

Compensation

$130,000 to $150,000 depending on experience, licensure, and depth across the advanced strategy landscape. The upper range reflects candidates who can run a full strategy session on day one with minimal ramp time. This is a senior role and the compensation reflects it.

Reporting Manager

RETS Pod Leader or Partner

RETS Tax Accountant Role Responsibilities

You will work directly with other RETS Podmates and report to the RETS Pod Leader. Your responsibilities span two seasons, and the work looks different depending on the time of year.

During Tax Season

  • Preparing rental property initial asset setups including cost segregation study inputs and trial balances.
  • Preparing Schedule Es and Forms 8825s as a contributing RETS Podmate.
  • Preparing complete tax returns for those engagements handled tip to tail by the RETS Pod: real estate holding companies filing partnership returns, and simpler 1040s where rental and investment activities are the main complexity.
  • Identifying planning opportunities during tax return preparation and flagging them for follow-up strategy sessions.
  • Resolving tax notices and other issues related to rental and real estate activities.

During the Off-Season

  • Leading Aspen Tax Strategy Series engagements from intake through execution blueprint delivery.
  • Leading STR Quick Launch engagements for prospective short-term rental investors.
  • Handling ad hoc strategy sessions for existing clients evaluating advanced tax strategies.
  • Participating in Discovery Meetings as the senior real estate and advanced strategy subject matter expert.
  • Serving as the escalation point for complex client questions that go beyond routine consultation.
  • Collaborating with the Biz Dev team to help prospects understand what a strategy engagement involves and what they can expect from it.
  • Researching complex or novel tax questions and drafting memos and conclusions that contribute to the RETS Pod knowledge base.

Year-Round

  • Identifying gaps in RETS Pod processes and contributing to how we fix them. We are still building this and your observations matter.\
  • Helping train and develop other RETS Pod members on strategy concepts and client communication.
  • Advancing WCG’s presence in the real estate and investment space through relationships with real estate agents, mortgage professionals, and investor communities.
  • Answering client calls and emails with professionalism and genuine care.
  • Filing and organizing electronic documents and keeping the workflow moving.
  • Other tasks related to real estate tax strategy, consultation, and planning as requested.

Responsibilities will evolve as the Tax Strategist role matures at WCG. They are reviewed and updated during Associate Reviews.

Hours Requirements

All salaried positions must work 2,100 hours annually / 12-month trailing period. Holidays and other office closures count towards the 2,100 hours (e.g., Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday would contribute 16 hours towards the 2,100-hour requirement... sorry, Cyber Monday is a work day). PTO and other employee-requested leaves do not count towards the 2,100-hour requirement. Please refer to the WCG Associate Handbook for additional information.

Tax Team Career Path

The Tax Strategist role carries its own trajectory. From here, the path runs toward Senior Tax Strategist, RETS Pod Leader, and Partner. The depth of expertise required for this role, combined with the client relationships built through strategy work, creates a natural pipeline to firm leadership.

The broader Tax Team career path (Supervisor, Senior Supervisor, Manager, Senior Manager, Partner) is also available. Deep specialization in advanced tax strategy does not close doors at WCG. It opens them.

Tax Strategists can also transition into other areas of the firm over time. WCG does not limit anyone who wants to grow and explore.

How To Join The WCG Team

Here is the step by step process-

  1. Click on the button below to complete a quick questionnaire and upload your resume.
  2. If we like your detailed and thoughtful responses, we will swipe right and send an email to schedule a 40-minute call to get some additional housekeeping out of the way for you and for us. We are quick to respond (within 12-24 hours); please check junk or spam folders.
  3. If things go well, we schedule a 40-minute Teams chat with Jason Watson. This is purely to get a feel for each other. We can teach you anything… short of being nice, being professional, being energetic, being someone we can work with. Taxes? Easy. Accounting? Got you. Ability to hold a meaningful conversation? Well…
  4. After that initial meeting, and if we believe there is a basis to work together, we introduce you to our recruitment team of Megan, Terra and Beth. After you chat with each of them, we get together and talk behind your back.
  5. Next, Jason checks in to see if you have any additional questions, and to start formulating a role with the team, compensation, start dates, etc. Then an offer letter is presented. Yay!

Once an offer is accepted, then there might be a lot of radio silence depending on start date. As things get closer, we order a background check. For remote positions, we also do a tech survey and see what things you need, and start to discuss travel plans.

About 30 days before your start date, training materials and a schedule is presented.

And away we go!

join the WCG team

Join The WCG Team

Apply online to join the team- answer some questions and upload a resume!

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2026 Benefits

WCG 2026 benefits summary outlines health insurance (United Healthcare Choice Plus HDHP, employee-only), dental, and vision coverage.

Associate Handbook

This Associate Handbook was developed to describe some of the expectations we have for all associates and what you can expect from WCG.

WCG CPAs & Advisors is a full service consultation and tax preparation firm located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and we look forward to working with you!

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