Wealthy International Tax Specialist (Personal Taxation) – Belfast

Overview

Wealthy International Tax Specialist (Personal Taxation) – Belfast

About the job

Job summary

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HMRC is the UK’s tax, payments, and customs authority. We have a vital purpose, and we collect the money that pays for public services and help families and individuals with targeted financial support.

HMRC’s Wealthy compliance teams (“Wealthy”) are responsible for the tax compliance of the UK’s wealthiest individuals including ultra-high net worth individuals. Wealthy individuals often have complex tax affairs that present significant challenges to an effective tax administration. Given the size and nature of the tax at risk within the wealthy population it increases the opportunities and risks of non-compliance.

For our most complex customers we adopt the co-operative compliance approach where there is a more intensive and enduring relationship with the individual and their agents.

WMBC Wealthy have allocated resource to address risks emerging and in the areas of non-domiciled and deemed domicile individuals following the Spring Budget 2024 announcement to remove domicile as a connecting factor in the UK tax system along with the introduction of a new residence based Foreign Income and Gains regime [“FIG” regime]. Our aim is to support customers move to the new regime as seamlessly as possible.

These roles will sit within a larger specialist team focussing on personal complex international taxation issues which include specialist offshore anti avoidance provisions.

As an individual with experience of dealing with non-doms either internally within HMRC or in private practice, you will be a key player in Wealthy’s operational response to addressing the compliance risks posed by the reforms.

Job description

You will develop a deep understanding of the tax affairs of customers impacted by the non-dom reforms and introduction of the new FIG regime, utilising your tax professional knowledge (and private sector insight where applicable) to identify risks. You will use a range of tools and techniques to promote good compliance, and both prevent and respond to non-compliance.

This is a very niche area, and the tax affairs of this customer base are inherently complex, involving structures and transactions that cut-across multiple jurisdictions. You will need to have a proven understanding across the main areas of Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax, with a good understanding of the current non-dom regime, the protections afforded to deemed domiciliaries and the offshore anti-avoidance provisions (settlements and transfer of assets abroad code along with the CG provisions for non-resident trusts).

You will regularly be addressing customers, verbally and in writing on tax technical matters, continuously putting that knowledge into practice.

You will work closely with colleagues at grades Administrative Officer to Grade 7 to conduct compliance activity. You will provide clear leadership to those that you work with, setting the strategy for activity and provide effective oversight of the work carried out.

As part of our drive to increase compliance activity in the upstream space, you will be expected to use your knowledge to engage with agents and representative bodies via webinars and external forums to increase education and understanding in this new area and prevent non-compliance from occurring in the first place.

Collaboration with colleagues both within and outside Wealthy is key to ensuring we close the Wealthy tax gap. You will need to be comfortable working at pace with technical specialists, policy owners and legal professionals. The team has built successful working partnerships with colleagues across Customer Compliance Group including Risk & Intelligence Service Offshore and Fraud Investigation Service. You will have a key role to play in maintaining and developing these partnerships.

This role does not include any direct line management.

Person specification

• Contribute to and shape the operational and strategic direction for complex international issues in Wealthy, including removal of domicile as a connecting factor in the UK tax system.
• Own and develop discrete elements of our international compliance strategy with a focus on the non- domicile reforms and new FIG regime, ensuring we develop and drive forward an effective plan for how Wealthy should best tackle the compliance risks.
• Lead preventative compliance activities which aim to stop non-compliance from occurring in the first place. This may include, for example, areas of external engagement and education with agents and representative bodies on complex areas relating to the reforms (via webinars, HMRC external forums etc).
• Design and pilot new and innovative approaches to encourage compliance within the risk area of non-domiciles and the new FIG regime.
• Utilise powers, data/intelligence and collaborate with analytical colleagues to establish an accurate picture of tax risk.
• Personally lead a number of investigations in this area. Conduct investigations efficiently, legally, and proportionately in line with HMRC’s Compliance Professional Standards and ensure all decisions are taken in line with guidance / governance protocols. Ensure full use of exchange of information and information powers and that decisions can be defended on legal challenge.
• Act as a Subject Matter Expert within Wealthy and wider Customer Compliance Group, directing some of the most complex investigations involving risks in stemming from the non-dom reforms and the offshore anti-avoidance provisions.
• Provide specialist training on the new legislation, where necessary, to colleagues across the business with a focus on compliance risk.
• Build relationships with ‘Head Office’ technical and policy specialists and legal professionals.
• Prepare, to a high standard, submissions to technical specialists, policy owners and solicitors on contentious issues.

As a new and emerging role, it is expected that the roles and responsibilities will develop over time.

Essential Criteria

You must be a qualified tax professional holding one of the following qualifications:

• For previous or existing HMRC employees TSP or predecessor qualification (TPDP, IDP, ITS2, CPT FT2) – (note – existing HMRC employees would only be eligible if they have completed the appropriate course to get them to G7 level (or above) in a tax professional role.)
• Chartered Tax Adviser (ATII/CTA) (Direct Tax route) – CIOT
• AIIT (including Paper 4*) or a Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies membership qualification e.g., Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales (ICAEW), Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland (ICAS) Institute of Chartered Accountants Ireland (ICAI)
• Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)
• Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
• Post Graduate full legal qualification – in taxation matters
• HMRC staff holding one or more of the listed essential professional qualifications are entitled to apply regardless of their current grade within HMRC and would be applying as an external candidate.

In addition, you should have:

• Offshore/International working experience with high net worth and ultra-high net worth non-dom and deemed domiciled individuals in respect of their personal tax, including the protections afforded to deemed domiciles and the offshore anti-avoidance provisions (Settlements, transfer of assets abroad, CG provisions for non-resident trusts etc)
• Knowledge of how tax interacts with planning of their wider affairs

Qualifications

For previous or existing HMRC employees TSP or predecessor qualification (TPDP, IDP, ITS2, CPT FT2) – (note – existing HMRC employees would only be eligible if they have completed the appropriate course to get them to G7 level (or above) in a tax professional role.)
Chartered Tax Adviser (ATII/CTA) (Direct Tax route) – CIOT
AIIT (including Paper 4*) or a Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies membership qualification e.g., Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales (ICAEW), Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland (ICAS) Institute of Chartered Accountants Ireland (ICAI)
Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
Post Graduate full legal qualification – in taxation matters
HMRC staff holding one or more of the listed essential professional qualifications are entitled to apply regardless of their current grade within HMRC and would be applying as an external candidate.

Technical skills

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Non-dom and Deemed Dom Taxation
• Offshore anti-avoidance provisions

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £54,439, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £15,770 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

HMRC operates both Flexible and Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments. We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, considering our operational and customer service needs.

We offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days.

• Pension – We make contributions to our colleagues’ Alpha pension equal to at least 27% of their salary.
• Family friendly policies.
• Personal support.
• Coaching and development.

To find out more about HMRC benefits and find out what it’s really like to work for HMRC hear from our insiders or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.

How to Apply

As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide the following:

• A CV.
• A Personal Statement, of up to 1000-words, detailing your experience and suitability for the role, including how you meet the Essential Criteria.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

We try to make our application process as straightforward as possible, so we ask for a two-part CV:

1. Job History: Please provide your employment history setting out:

• Dates in role (MM/YY – MM/YY)
• Employer
• Job Title
• A description of your responsibilities and relevant achievements detailing the ‘what you did’ and ‘how you did it’.
• Detail any key achievements and the impact your work has had
  Tailor this to showcase how your experience aligns with the advertised role and essential criteria.

2. Qualifications: List all relevant qualifications required for the role as outlined in the job advert and criteria.

In your Personal Statement, you should detail how you meet the essential criteria and link your statement back to the role and responsibilities with a focus on international personal taxation issues.

Sift

A full sift will be held on both your CV and Personal Statement and both will be scored, with the successful candidates being invited to interview.

In the event of a large number of applications, an initial sift based on the CV will take place.

We may also raise the score required at any stage of the process if we receive a high number of applications.

Interview

During the panel interview, you will be asked experience-based questions and questions to test your tax technical skills (international personal taxation).

If successful and transferring from another Government Department further checks may be carried out.

Interviews will take place via video link. Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Eligibility

Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days(Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake, please contact us via: ubsrecruitmentexcellence@hmrc.gov.uk – Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example – ‘Please re-open my application – 368017 & vacancy closing date 23/09/2024′

To check that you are eligible to apply for this role, please review the eligibility information before submitting your application.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles – if this applies to you, we’ll let you know via your Civil Service Jobs account.

Merit List

After interview, a single merit list will be created, and you will only be considered for posts in locations you have expressed a preference for. Appointments will be made in strict merit order in line with the set number of roles in each location.

Criminal Record Check

Applications received from candidates with a criminal record are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.

Reasonable Adjustments

We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact the UBS Recruitment Excellence Team via ubsrecruitmentexcellence@hmrc.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Important information for existing HMRC contractual homeworkers:

Please note that this role is unsuitable for contractual homeworkers due to the nature and/or requirements of the role.

Terms and Conditions

Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement, this will be tested as part of the selection process.

HMRC has a presence in every region of the UK. For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations.

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide in your application must relate to your own experiences.

Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant application(s) will be withdrawn from the process.

Recording of interviews is prohibited unless explicit agreement is sought in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulations.

Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

New entrants will join on the minimum of the pay band.

If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ‘Contact point for applicants’ section.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).