Technical Officer - Associate Director

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About the department

The National Tax department provides technical and operational support to the firm’s Tax Practice, comprising approximately 100 partners and 850 other staff. The National Tax Technical team provides technical support covering the range of UK taxes on which the firm advises and consists of the National Head of Tax Policy, the National Tax Technical Officers and other permanent or seconded specialist/technical staff. The Indirect Taxes Technical Officer reports to the National Head of Tax Policy and works closely with the Indirect Taxes Technical Manager, other National Tax Technical Officers, the Indirect Taxes service line head, the VAT business development partner, the Head of External Tax Communications, the Head of Tax Technical Training, tax specialist groups, the National Head of Tax Operations and local office tax teams, as appropriate.

About the role

The principal responsibility of the Indirect Taxes Technical Officer is to assist the work of the National Head of Tax Policy and Head of External Tax Communications in providing:

• technical support to a wide range of partners and staff, both within the Tax Practice and the firm’s other technical specialist departments (such as the National Audit Technical Services and learning & development teams);
• internal technical updates, guidance and other materials on indirect tax technical issues that impact on the Tax Practice and the firm’s business and clients;
• external communications and other client facing materials on indirect tax technical issues that impact the firm’s business and clients.

The Indirect Taxes Technical Officer is required to maintain an up to date understanding of technical developments (including details of legislative proposals, case law and consultations) across the range of indirect tax law and practice.

Detailed duties

The day-to-day duties of the Indirect Taxes Technical Officer include working with other tax, accounting, learning & development, marketing, PR and other specialist colleagues, as appropriate, to:

• provide specific technical policy support and guidance on issues identified by the National Tax Technical team and wider Tax Practice as requiring consideration on a proactive (prior to legislative changes, case law etc) or reactive basis, attending and contributing to meetings and calls as necessary;
• communicate key technical developments internally and more widely within the RSM network, by contributing to the preparation of written material for the weekly VAT update, regular internal Tax Technical Updates, ad-hoc Tax Practice Alerts when required, and other communications;
• identify potential business development opportunities from case law and legislative developments and contribute to the preparation and review of clear and concise briefings, updates and other business development and delivery support materials for clients and targets, as required;
• prepare and review VAT and other indirect tax content for the firm’s external marketing materials, publications and events (including Tax Voice, Budget commentary and similar marketing initiatives and events);
• provide responses to client related VAT and indirect tax technical queries from the Tax Practice, ensuring discussions and advice given are recorded and shared as appropriate, and carry out occasional ad-hoc client work in support of local office VAT and indirect tax teams;
• draft, edit, review and deliver materials for training and workshop day presentations, including face to face, online and other formats of training modules, webinars and tax counsel briefing meetings;
• maintain, develop and share various tax technical information resources, including technical material for the firm’s external website and intranet, including the tax knowledge database;
• provide technical input to the review of standard documents and other delivery materials and agree and record the firm’s operational policies on VAT and indirect tax matters in the firm’s Tax Operational Policies and Procedures manual;
• contribute responses to consultations on VAT and indirect tax matters issued by government departments, intergovernmental organisations and other external bodies, attending meetings and calls with government officials and other organisations where appropriate;
• attend regular and ad-hoc National Tax Technical and wider Tax Practice team meetings and calls;
• contribute to strategic development of and take on delegated management responsibilities and projects within the National Tax Technical department.

About the ideal candidate

The successful candidate will possess the following skills and attributes:

• A relevant technical qualification or equivalent experience.
• Outstanding tax technical, research and analysis skills and a desire to develop wider and deeper tax technical knowledge/expertise covering a potentially wide range of issues and new areas of tax.
• The ability to communicate clearly and concisely in writing to a variety of audiences.
• Excellent presentation skills.
• The ability to manage projects to ensure delivery of own work within agreed, often short, timeframes.
• The flexibility, diligence, resilience and efficiency to deliver work on time, often with limited close support.
• A responsive, proactive and collaborative team-working approach.

Note: This job description reflects the current requirements of the role. As responsibilities and duties change, the job description will be reviewed and will be subject to amendment in consultation with the individual.