Tax Advisory – Qualified Senior – Property Tax, focused on SDLT (Stamp Duty Land Tax)

The Saffery Champness Tax Advisory team provides technical tax advice to its own clients and to clients of the firm nationally. Members of the team generally work directly with partners and clients on varied projects. The team currently contains Directors, Senior Managers and Managers and is rapidly growing.

Membership of the team offers good progression opportunities, three partners have been promoted from the team within the last three years. The exposure to new clients and new projects means that there is a steep learning curve, but members of the team develop a deep understanding of tax technical work.

The role

At present we are looking for a Qualified Senior to join the team. The main function of this role to support the SDLT Partner and Senior Manager in the Tax Advisory team to provide Stamp Taxes advice firmwide and to assist in the growth of this service offering internally and externally.

The individual would work directly to the Senior Manager and Partner and would be involved in one-off special assignments, report writing, attending Counsel, dealing with HMRC, and advising on complicated technical issues. We advise on a wide range of SDLT, LBTT, LTT and Stamp Duty tax matters, ranging from corporate group restructuring, corporate due diligence on acquisitions, partnership transfers, inbound investment activity and residential investment within the mid-tier corporate and the private client sectors.

It is recognised that Stamp Taxes are a specialist area, and the candidate will be fully supported in this learning curve. The role can also be tailored to the individual to include wider property related direct or indirect tax exposure, e.g. for UK and non-domiciled individuals, companies and trusts.

The role is advisory only – Safferys does not offer stamp taxes compliance services and the candidate would not be part of the personal or corporation tax self-assessment teams.
The SDLT team is small and works closely together – we would expect that the successful candidate would benefit from working closely on projects with senior team members. Therefore, the candidate will be expected to spend at least three days a week in the London office, this can be reviewed at a later stage.

This role has arisen from the organic growth of the Stamp Taxes team over recent years. There are significant internal and external growth opportunities to explore, which the individual could be involved, if they wish however, business development experience is not a requirement.

The candidate

The candidate should have a strong compliance background in either personal tax or corporate tax, some experience of advisory work and a desire to specialise into property taxes.
Ideally the individual should already have experience of working in Stamp Taxes and other property tax matters in a firm with recognised tax capability. Experience of SDLT/LBTT, e.g. implications of MDR, mixed use rules, the HRAD/ADS charges, corporate restructuring, the partnerships rules, and the anti-avoidance provisions would be an advantage.

The candidate must be willing to learn and develop their skill set in this technical area. They must also be collaborative, commercially minded, self-motivated and have confidence in dealing with partners and clients. Good organisation and interpersonal skills and the ability to work under pressure are essential.

Education and experience

Candidates should be educated to at least A level, and will have obtained a relevant professional qualification i.e., CTA/ACA/ICAS/ACCA. Outlook, Word, and Excel skills are necessary. Previous experience of using tax return software (the firm uses CCH) is not required.

Salary/benefits

• A 35-hour working week with flexibility around the core hours of 10am-4pm
• Agile working policy giving you the option to work from home for up to 3 days per week.
• Paid overtime or time off in lieu
• 25 days annual leave. After 5 years’ service, the entitlement will be increased by 1 day
• In addition, employees are entitled to buy or sell up to 5 days holiday a year
• Contributory pension scheme (The firm will contribute 5% of salary on a matched basis with employee from their date of joining)
• Life assurance cover of 4 x annual salary,
• Working from home allowance of £25 a month.
• Eligibility for the firm’s Profit-Sharing Plan that runs from October to September each year. The scheme enables staff to share in the profits of the firm. Payment is usually c£1,000. Paid in December.
• Employee referral scheme. Assistant Manager level and below, including support staff, will attract a referral reward of £5,000, Manager level or above, will attract a referral reward of £10,000.
• New client referral scheme. Members of staff introducing a new client to the firm, have the potential to receive a referral payment of up to 10% of the first year’s total fees.
• Staff have access to health assessments, cancer screenings and health cash plans through the flexible benefits programme.
• Access to a number of additional benefits with preferential rates under the flexible benefit programme, health cash plans, health screening/GP support, critical illness cover, dental and travel insurance, Techscheme, Cyclescheme, Gymflex and a Workplace ISA.
• Paid travel expenses when working at offices other than your contracted office.
• Saffery Champness is committed to being a fully inclusive employer and have a huge focus on ED&I. Upon joining the firm, you will have the opportunity to join a number of people network groups as well as be a part of the growing ED&I network.