Job Description

Details

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Reference number

435812

Salary

81,000
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
GBP

Job grade

SCS Pay Band 1

Contract type

Permanent

Business area

HMRC - CS&TD - Indirect Tax

Type of role

Analytical


Strategy

Working pattern

Flexible working, Full-time

Number of jobs available

1

Contents

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Location About the job Benefits Things you need to know Apply and further information

Location

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Bristol, Liverpool, London, Manchester

About the job

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Job summary

HMRC is the UK's tax and customs department. We collect the money that pays for the UK's public services and provides financial support to people. Our work is central to the business of government and we're proud of our track record. We're an historic and yet modern department, undergoing ambitious transformation which affects all our colleagues and customers.

In Customer Strategy and Tax Design, we are working to build a trusted, modern tax administration system- one that brings in revenue for public services, makes it easy to get it right, is valued and trusted, and which promotes sustainable economic growth.


Indirect Tax Directorate is made up of around 350 colleagues overseeing VAT, Excise and Environmental taxes and duties, raising over 220 billion for the Exchequer each year. This represents a substantial and growing proportion of overall tax revenue.


The largest tax for which Indirect Tax is responsible is VAT which brings in 169bn annually for the Exchequer. This challenging and exciting role is responsible for VAT Principles, which is about the fundamental way the VAT system works. The postholder will be responsible for the fundamental integrity of the VAT system, advising on emerging risks and on case law and legislative changes to ensure HMRC collects the maximum VAT due.


This rewarding role will be an opportunity to work in an exciting and complex environment where you will test your tax and leadership skills to their limits. You will work with some incredible colleagues having a real impact in helping HMRC to achieve its longer-term ambitions and strategic goals.

Job description

Strategic Impact & Core Purpose

VAT System Integrity:

Maintain the fundamental integrity and fairness of the VAT system, which secures around 170bn annually for the Exchequer.

Revenue Protection:

Advise on emerging risks, case law, and legislative changes to ensure HMRC collects the maximum VAT due, protecting vital public revenue.

Policy & Design:

Drive the design, development, and maintenance of complex VAT policy in collaboration with HM Treasury, ensuring policies align with Ministerial and Departmental objectives (simplicity, cost efficiency, compliance).

Leadership & Governance

SCS Leadership:

Provide confident, empowering, and visible SCS leadership as a member of the Indirect Tax Senior Leadership Team (SLT).

Team Management:

Lead and develop a multi-site, multi-disciplinary team of approximately 40 technical and policy professionals (located in London, Bristol, Manchester, and Liverpool).

Accountability:

Accountable for key decisions on legal interpretation and guidance that impact HMRC's reputation, resources, and the Exchequer's revenue.

Financial & Organisational:

Manage the allocated budget for the team (paybill and non-paybill) and ensure the team's capability is fit for the future, including skill identification and capability build plans

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Stakeholder Engagement

Senior Influence:

Exert influence across the tax system, advising Ministers, Commissioners, and senior colleagues (e.g., Solicitors, Compliance) on VAT Principles and high-profile litigation cases.

Governance:

Represent the Directorate at key Cross-Departmental Boards and attend Tax Assurance Boards to assure HMRC's approach to tax integrity.

External Relations:

Build and maintain productive relationships with challenging external stakeholders (e.g., Joint VAT Consultative Committee) and Other Government Departments (OGDs).

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

Tax Technical Expertise:

Recent, proven experience working with VAT legislation and its complex application to protect revenue and resolve novel technical issues.

Executive Leadership:

Demonstrable ability to lead and develop expert teams, often working across boundaries, through periods of high complexity and ambiguity, setting a clear vision, culture, and operational objectives.

Stakeholder Management:

Strong senior stakeholder management skills, with proven experience influencing, negotiating, and advising at Ministerial or equivalent executive levels

Communication :

Excellent communication and collaborative skills to successfully deliver positive outcomes

Policy Acumen:

Experience in designing, developing and delivering policies that are technically sound while meeting organisational or Ministerial objectives

Benefits

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Alongside your salary of 81,000, HM Revenue and Customs contributes 23,465 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.Whatever your role, we take your career and development seriously and want to enable you to build a successful career with the department and wider Civil Service.

It is crucial that our employees have the right skills to develop their careers and meet the challenges ahead, and you'll benefit from regular performance and development reviews to ensure this development is ongoing.


As a Civil Service employee, you'll be entitled to a large range of benefits.


This includes:


+ 25 days annual leave on entry, increasing on a sliding scale to 30 days after 5 years' service. This is in addition to your public holidays.
+ This will be complemented by one further day paid privilege entitlement to mark the King's Birthday.
+ Interest-free loans allowing you to spread the cost of an annual travel season ticket or a new bicycle.
+ Flexible working patterns and access to Flexible Working Schemes allowing you to vary your working day as long as you work your total hours.
+ A competitive contributory pension scheme that you can enter as soon as you join and where we will make a significant contribution to the cost of your pension. Your contribution comes out of your salary before any tax is taken and will continue to provide valuable benefits for you and your family if you are too ill to continue to work or die before you retire.
+ Generous paid maternity and paternity leave which is notably more than the statutory minimum offered by many other employers.
+ Use of onsite facilities (where applicable).
+ Occupational sick pay.

Things you need to know

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Selection process details

For full selection process details please see the attached Candidate Pack



Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.




As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check .



See our vetting charter .
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) 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

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code 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 .
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 and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy .

Apply and further information

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This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

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Job contact :

Name : Robert Gavin Email : scsresourcing@hmrc.gov.uk
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Recruitment team

Email : unitybusinessservicesrecruitmentresults@hmrc.gov.uk

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles. In the first instance, you should raise the matter directly with the department concerned. If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitment/complaints/