VAT Director

Ideas | People | Trust

We’re BDO. An accountancy and business advisory firm, providing the advice and solutions entrepreneurial organisations need to navigate today’s changing world.

We work with the companies that are Britain’s economic engine – ambitious, entrepreneurially-spirited and high‑growth businesses that fuel the economy - and directly advise the owners and management teams that lead them.

We’ll broaden your horizons

Working, achieving, and thriving together, our Tax team move with every challenge. Friendly, driven and diverse, they service our clients across the country and around the world. By providing expertise in many different specialist areas of tax, they collaborate across BDO to deliver wider business solutions. From meeting clients’ evolving business needs to managing changes to legislation, there are always fresh challenges to face in the Tax team. If you’re after a career that will keep you on your toes, we’ll give you the autonomy to drive your career forward.

Tax is a dynamic, ever-changing industry. As our clients’ needs and the regulatory environment evolve, you’ll encounter new problems to solve and new opportunities for growth. Whether it’s advising clients on high-profile specialisms like Corporation Tax or leading the implementation of intelligent technology solutions, you’ll enjoy variety as well as stretch in your role.

BDO supports all kinds of different businesses in different sectors across the UK and around the world. You’ll be providing Tax Advisory services to start-ups and scale-ups, to private businesses and FTSE listed multinationals. Each of our clients has different needs and in applying your expertise in different contexts, you’ll develop your skills and gain valuable experience that will serve you throughout your career.

We’ll help you succeed

Leading organisations trust us because of the quality of our advice. That quality grows from a thorough understanding of their business, and that understanding comes from working closely with them and building long-lasting relationships.

You’ll be someone who is both comfortable working proactively and managing your own tasks, as well as confident collaborating with others and communicating regularly with senior managers, directors, and BDO’s partners to help businesses effectively. You’ll be encouraged to identify and draw attention to opportunities for enhancing our delivery and providing additional services to organisations we work with.

Our Indirect Tax business continues to grow at a rapid pace. Indirect Taxes raise significant revenues for governments globally and gain increasing focus from tax authorities, the media and the public. For you it’s the chance to hone your client service skills with interesting and complex assignments to help clients of all sizes succeed.

The team comprises a mix of ‘home-grown’ (including at partner level) and externally recruited talent. This strength and diversity of knowledge creates an environment where our team can bring fresh thinking and a varied perspective to every project, enabling us to deliver creative, commercial and robust solutions for our clients.

Responsibilities:

• There will be an expectation that you will take full responsibility for project delivery on your portfolio

• Review of work prepared by more junior members of staff

• Liaise with HMRC

• To ensure assignments are completed within agreed budgets and keep client/Partner informed of changes in scope / overruns and plan staff assignments in order to give an appropriate spread of experience

• Identify risk and technical matters, as well as selling opportunities, to the Partner, whilst exercising judgement within agreed parameters.

• Provide overall support to Partners on client matters and assist Partners in the management and leadership of the group, this will include support at times for the recruitment and management of staff

• A key skill will be the ability to recognise business development opportunities and inform and work with the Partner and the client to develop these when they arise

• Develop contact with clients at senior level and maintain contact with other levels as appropriate to ensure the firm has the confidence of the client

We’re looking for someone with:

• Significant understanding of and previous experience within UK VAT.

• In-depth knowledge of recent key updates and areas of focus in Financial Services VAT

• Responsibility for review of VAT compliance for own portfolio and involved in any VAT advice required by your clients, by delegating and developing the juniors in the team in delivering this

• Ability to manage a large and varied client portfolio

• Ability to actively seek opportunities for selling new services to existing clients

• Experience of dealing direct with HMRC

• Experience of dealing with client senior management and collaborating with our wider FS tax team

• Ideally CTA and/or ACA qualified or equivalent

You’ll be able to be yourself; we’ll recognise and value you for who you are and celebrate and reward your contributions to the business. We’re committed to agile working, and we offer every colleague the opportunity to work in ways that suit you, your teams, and the task at hand.

At BDO, we’ll help you achieve your personal goals and career ambitions, and we have programmes, resources, and frameworks that provide clarity and structure around career development.

We’re in it together

Mutual support and respect is one of BDO’s core values and we’re proud of our distinctive, people-centred culture. From informal success conversations to formal mentoring and coaching, we’ll support you at every stage in your career, whatever your personal and professional needs.

Our agile working framework helps us stay connected, bringing teams together where and when it counts so they can share ideas and help one another. At BDO, you’ll always have access to the people and resources you need to do your best work.

We know that collaboration is the key to creating value for the companies we work with and satisfying experiences for our colleagues, so we’ve invested in state-of-the-art collaboration spaces in our offices. BDO’s people represent a wealth of knowledge and expertise, and we’ll encourage you to build your network, work alongside others, and share your skills and experiences. With a range of multidisciplinary events and dedicated resources, you’ll never stop learning at BDO.

We’re looking forward to the future

At BDO, we help entrepreneurial businesses to succeed, fuelling the UK economy. Our success is powered by our people, which is why we’re always finding new ways to invest in you. Across the UK thousands of unique minds continue to come together to help companies we work with to achieve their ambitions.

We’ve got a clear purpose, and we’re confident in our future, because we’re adapting and evolving to build on our strengths, ensuring we continue to find the right combination of global reach, integrity and expertise. We shape the future together with openness and clarity, because we believe in empowering people to think creatively about how we can do things better.

We’re one of the UK’s largest Accountancy and Business Advisory firms providing Audit, Advisory and Tax services to organisations all over the world. When the most entrepreneurial and high-growth businesses need advice on accountancy and business, they turn to BDO.

Whatever you think you know about tax, you don't know life at BDO. Operating out of 18 locations across the UK and 166 countries, we’re part of one of the world’s largest accounting and business advisory firms – but we’re so much more than that. We are an ambitious, high-growth and winning business, helping our clients and people succeed.

You’ll find meaningful relationships, built on trust and incredible career opportunities to grow at BDO.

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