Tax Senior Associate

At Smart, our mission is to transform retirement, savings and financial wellbeing, across all generations, around the world.

THE ROLE

Smart is going through a period of rapid expansion, both in the UK market and globally. Smart has been highly acquisitive and operates in several jurisdictions, including the US, Spain, Poland, Middle East, Hong Kong and Australia. The business is undergoing significant transformation across all aspects of the business and the Finance function to develop processes, controls and improve automation and efficiencies.

This role has a broad remit across both tax compliance and advisory with one one direct report, the Tax and Payroll assistant. We’re not expecting you to be an expert in all areas, however you will have an appetite to get stuck into all group tax matters and a constant improvement mindset. Smart utilises third parties experts and you will be a key contact in managing these relationships.

We’re keen to add a fun, hardworking and ambitious individual who has experience working in rapidly scaling organisations. You’ll join a high performing team full of motivated and passionate people and you’ll benefit from flexible working and access to Smart modern office space.

Reporting to the Group Financial Controller, the Tax Senior Associate will be based in London and together with the GFC, be responsible for taxation relating to the Group’s UK and overseas subsidiaries.

THE OPPORTUNITY

In this role you’ll help us meet our legal and regulatory tax filing obligations, both domestically in the UK and overseas, you’ll advise the Group on a broad range of topics from changes in the tax landscape and impacts of new acquisitions to the group’s tax strategy, and to understand how the tax impacts of our business decisions will affect our capital position – and therefore our ability to operate and be the best for customers. You'll work in a highly collaborative way with the rest of finance and the wider business, and enjoy seeing the influence of your work.

Ideally, you will have an understanding and appreciation for generally accepted accounting principles, in particular IFRS, and be able to work comfortably with numbers. You will have a keen eye for detail and a determined mindset to get things right; you will not be afraid to question or challenge when things do not make sense.

You will be active in making suggestions for improving the documentation and efficiency for the financial tasks that you are responsible for.

Responsibilities include:

Tax Compliance

• Manage and review outsourced global corporate tax compliance and reporting, including CT600 and CFC

• Manage and review outsourced international tax compliance and reporting including corporate interest restriction, UK Hybrid Mismatch, unallowable purpose tests.

• Manage the Group’s R&D tax claim prepared by advisors.

• Monitor and implement transfer pricing policies, methodologies, calculations and ensure compliance with international tax regulations, where applicable.

• Manage and coordinate tax audits, inquiries, and correspondence with tax authorities, acting as the primary point of contact.

• Maintain strong relationships with HMRC, legal partners, procurement, operations and HR whilst supporting these departments / consultants on delivery of policy updates including tax legislation reviews.

• Advise from time-to-time on specific employee matters (e.g. PSA and other BIK type compliance and employee status assessments for new joiners) and act as the tax point of contact for the group payroll manager.

• Review the quarterly VAT returns submissions and help coordinate other VAT related tasks e.g. VAT groupings, Capital goods scheme applications, Help prepare UK R&D Tax credit claims for the UK group.

• Stay updated with changes in tax legislation and regulations, and proactively assess their impact on the company's operations.

Tax Advisory

• Provide guidance and support to internal stakeholders on tax matters including tax strategies, tax structuring, compliance, governance, refinancing, legal structure optimisation, pre/post transaction reorganisations, tax authority enquiries and providing technical support to the wider business e.g. employee benefit.

• Horizon scanning to ensure that the group is being proactive in its management of tax affairs

• Conduct tax due diligence for potential mergers, acquisitions, or other business transactions.

• Liaising with specialists in other departments and overseas offices to oversee their input into tax advisory projects.

Tax accounting

• Support with tax forecasting for the corporate group, including future R&D credits, deferred tax recognition and utilisation and QIP calculations.

• Assist in production of tax reporting under IFRS and UK GAAP for year-end reporting for tax provisions to be included in group and statutory accounts.

Controls and processes

• Continue to improve existing policies, and procedures to ensure compliance with UK and global Tax regulations, minimise tax liabilities and improve efficiencies.

• Ensure appropriate documentation and recordkeeping of tax-related information, maintaining compliance with statutory requirements.

• Assist with designing, delivering and testing of tax hierarchies and reporting in Netsuite.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

The skills, experience, and aptitudes we are looking for are listed below but please don’t be discouraged from applying if you don’t meet every single one of these criteria – having a ‘can do’ attitude is sometimes more important than being able to tick every box:

• CTA or equivalent or ACA/ACCA with at least three years tax experience

• Strong technical corporation, employment and value added tax knowledge within the UK and any of the following jurisdictions is preferred, US, Spain, Poland, Middle East, Hong Kong and Australia

• Experience with or understanding of R&D tax claim is preferred

• Experience of setting up tax hierarchies and reporting in ERPs would be beneficial but not essential

• An understanding of tax accounting

• Flexibility to work in a fast-paced changing/business growth environment i.e. not a steady ship where everything is already in place to be picked up

• Willingness to get stuck in to design, fix and improve existing processes

• Strong attention to detail and good analytical skills

• Responsible and self-motivated with ability to work under initiative

• Intellectually curious and keen to take on new challenges

• Confident to question the status quo and working with a continuous improvement mindset

• Accountable and driven to meet deadlines

• Proactive approach to communication

• Team player, with the maturity to see where role fits within the wider team and business

• Advanced MS Excel skills including lookups and pivot tables.

WHO WE ARE

We work in partnerships with governments and financial institutions in the UK and internationally. Our cloud-native digital platform is revolutionising how people around the world think about, and save for, their retirement.

At heart, we’re a financial technology business. What we do is all about innovation, and using the power of digital change to put the customer first. Our Engineers will tell you that working at Smart gives you the opportunity to play your part in developing world-class technological solutions, working with – and learning from – like-minded people.

You’ll also find that, across our business, our colleagues love Smart’s culture, and how what we do means better financial outcomes for savers. That feels worthwhile, and it means that what we do, collectively, goes way beyond the nine to five of a typical working day.

Don’t just take our word for it – you can see what our colleagues say about working at Smart on LinkedIn Life and Glassdoor .

BENEFITS

At Smart, one of the eight principles we work to is “We want happy and good people in our team”. We created a list of benefits that helps us achieve this goal:

• 25 days’ holiday per year, increasing with length of service.

• £500 annual training budget to spend on your professional development

• Extensive private healthcare, including dental, eyecare and EAP

• Enhanced sick leave (three months’ pay per year)

• Enhanced maternity and paternity (maternity – 6 months fully paid/paternity – 3 weeks fully paid)

• Death in service insurance cover

• Fully-paid five-week sabbatical after five years of employment

• In office wellbeing, such as manicures, massages and barbers.

• Smart employees also enjoy a 50% discount on orders from our sister company Arena Flowers, Britain's most ethical florist. They offer unique hand-tied bouquets, luxury flowers, letterbox flowers, plants and gifts to spend on friends and loved ones or even for yourself.

At Smart, we are committed to creating an inclusive and equitable workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to do their best work.

We believe that diverse perspectives help us lead the way in transforming retirement, savings, and financial wellbeing. We welcome differences in background, experience, thinking, and identity, and we recognise that innovation is strongest when it is built on inclusion and fairness. We encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and experiences and do not discriminate on the basis of any protected characteristic.

If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process or in the workplace, we encourage you to let us know - we are committed to supporting you.

We think Smart is an awesome place to work. If it sounds like somewhere you’d like to work, too, and if you’re ready to play your part in our continued success in the future, then naturally we’d love to meet you.