Senior Policy and Technical Advisor - Direct Tax - Insurance - London - 100 Parliament Street About the job
Job summary
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HMRC is the UK's tax, payments and customs authority. Our purpose is to collect revenue to fund public services and provide targeted financial support to families and individuals.
We're committed to creating a great place to work for all colleagues - an inclusive, respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society we serve. We aim to maximise the potential of everyone who joins us, offering flexible working patterns and support to help you build a fulfilling career at HMRC.
Diverse perspectives and experiences are key to our success. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds with the skills and experience to perform this role.
Business, Assets & International (BAI) is a key directorate at the heart of government tax policy making. It is HMRC's centre of expertise for business and international taxation, and capital assets - advising on policy, legislation and technical issues. We help shape tax regimes to support HMRC's strategic goals: closing the tax gap, improving customer experience, modernising tax administration, and supporting wider economic aims.
BAI offers excellent career progression and the chance to develop valuable skills for the future.
Within BAI, the Financial Products and Services Team (FPST) designs and maintains bespoke tax policies for the financial services industry - covering insurance, banking, collective investments and asset management. The team also provides technical advice and handles tax policy for a wide range of financial instruments and transactions across all sectors.
The Insurance Policy and Technical sub-team in FPST focuses on direct tax matters for life and general insurance companies, policyholders, and the Lloyd's market. It also monitors and manages the impact of broader tax system changes on the insurance sector.
Job description
We have an exciting opportunity to join FPST as a Senior Insurance Tax Policy & Technical Adviser. You will work closely with the Insurance Policy and Technical Lead, as well as other advisers, contributing your commercial insight and industry experience to strengthen the team's capabilities.
You will use your tax and industry expertise to support HMRC's operational directorates - particularly the Large Business Directorate which handles the tax affairs of the major insurance companies - in their compliance activities involving insurance companies.
You will play a key role in shaping tax policy and addressing technical issues related to life insurance. Your remit will also extend to general insurance taxation, policyholder matters, and the Lloyd's insurance market. Beyond specific insurance tax regimes, you will monitor and assess the impact of broader tax system changes on the insurance sector.
This role offers the opportunity to engage with novel, complex and evolving issues in a sector of significant economic importance.
You will regularly engage with a wide range of stakeholders, both within government and externally. External stakeholders include industry bodies, advisers, and leading insurance companies. Within government, you will work with HM Treasury, HMRC operational teams, analysts, statisticians, and legal experts.
As part of this role you will have opportunities to:
Provide technical advice and commercial insight to colleagues across HMRC and externally on complex tax issues. Provide technical leadership and commercial insight on major tax disputes, up to and including litigation in court. Advise ministers and HM Treasury on tax policy. Contribute to fiscal events. Contribute to the development of new legislation, up to and including its passage through Parliament. Work with senior industry representatives and their advisers, and with other external stakeholders to understand policy issues. Represent HMRC externally on relevant policy issues. Promote knowledge and understanding of insurance taxation and the insurance industry across the department. Develop professional and personal skills and competencies.
Person specification
This role requires a combination of:
Strong tax technical expertise, particularly in the UK life insurance tax regime and relevant international rules affecting life insurers. A solid commercial understanding of the life insurance sector.
This will enable you to:
Identify where policy proposals offer genuine commercial and growth opportunities. Recognise tax risks and contribute to strategies for mitigating them. Spot loopholes in existing rules and help close them in ways that preserve legitimate commercial activity.
You will need to:
Take the lead while working collaboratively. Be able to work as part of the team, even when working remotely. Establish and develop effective working relationships within HMRC and externally. Possess or develop relevant technical knowledge and policy skills. Be comfortable working on complex and detailed tax issues. Contribute to development of the team, and of BAI more widely.
Essential Criteria
You must:
Have recent and extensive direct tax and commercial experience from working in or with the life insurance sector. Hold one of the following qualifications or equivalent (considered on a case by case basis):
- Chartered Institute of Taxation (Chartered Tax Adviser) or the Advanced Diploma in International Taxation.
- HMRC's Tax Specialist Programme or predecessor qualifications (TPDP, IDP, ITS2, CPT, FT2).
- Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies membership qualifications (such as ICAEW, ICAS, CAI, ACCA, CIPFA, CIMA) or overseas equivalents.
- A postgraduate legal qualification.
Additional Security Information
Please note that if you are appointed to 100 Parliament Street, as a condition of working in this location you will be required to obtain Counter Terrorist Check (CTC) level clearance.
To obtain this level of clearance, you will normally need to meet the minimum UK residency period, which for CTC is 3 years UK residency prior to your vetting application.
You may not be able to start in the location until clearance is granted.
If you have any questions about this residency requirement, please speak to the vacancy holder for this post.
Qualifications
Do you hold one of the following qualifications or equivalent (considered on a case by case basis):
• Chartered Institute of Taxation (Chartered Tax Adviser) or the Advanced Diploma in International Taxation
• HMRC's Tax Specialist Programme or predecessor qualifications (TPDP, IDP, ITS2, CPT, FT2)
• Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies membership qualifications (such as ICAEW, ICAS, CAI, ACCA, CIPFA, CIMA) or overseas equivalents
• A postgraduate legal qualification
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
Tax Technical skills presentation Complex Tax Technical issue - question
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £71,725, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £20,778 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
HMRC operates both Flexible and Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments. We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, considering our operational and customer service needs.
We offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days.
Pension - We make contributions to our colleagues' Alpha pension equal to at least 28.97% of their salary. Family friendly policies. Personal support. Coaching and development.
To find out more about HMRC benefits and find out what it's really like to work for HMRC hear from our insiders or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service
Things you need to know
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.
How to Apply
As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide the following:
A name-blind CV including your job history, qualifications and previous experiences. Please provide details of the which mandatory qualifications you hold, as stated in the advert. A 1000-word Personal Statement. Your Personal Statement should be used to describe how your skills and experience would be suitable for the advertised role, making reference to the Essential Criteria and Person Specification outlined in the advert.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Sift
In the event of a large number of applications being received, an initial sift may be held on CV.
At full sift your CV and your Personal Statement will be assessed, with the successful candidates being invited to interview.
We may also raise the score required at any stage of the process if we receive a high number of applications.
Interview
During the panel interview your technical experience will be assessed and you will deliver a 7 minutepresentation. Further details will be provided prior to interview.
You will be asked a technical skills question to give you the opportunity to describe a complex tax technical issue you have handled.
You will be asked strength-based questions to also explore what you enjoy and your motivations relevant to the job role.
This is an example of a strengths-based question:
"It is often said that the customer's needs should come first. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?"
There is no expectation or requirement for you to prepare for the strengths-based questions in advance of the interview, though you may find it helpful to spend some time reflecting on what you enjoy doing and what you do well.
Interviews will take place via video link/face to face. Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.
Eligibility
Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days(Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake with your eligibility form, please contact us via: - Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example - 'Please re-open my application - (insert vacancy ref) & vacancy closing date (insert date)'.
To check that you are eligible to apply for this role, please review the eligibility information before submitting your application.
Reserve List
A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles - if this applies to you, we'll let you know via your Civil Service Jobs account.
Merit List
After interview, a single merit list will be created, and you will only be considered for posts in locations you have expressed a preference for. Appointments will be made in strict merit order in line with the set number of roles in each location.
Criminal Record Check
Applications received from candidates with a criminal record are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.
Hybrid working at HMRC
HMRC is an office-based organisation, and colleagues are expected to spend 60% of their working time in the office. Our offices provide opportunity for interaction, collaboration which aids learning and development and a sense of community. Where the role allows it, and where the home environment is suitable, colleagues can work from home for up to 2 days a week, averaged over a calendar month (or a proportionate amount of time for colleagues who work less than full time).
Reasonable Adjustments
We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:
Contact the UBS Recruitment team via as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
Complete the "Assistance required" section in the "Additional requirements" page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a Language Service Professional.
Important information for existing HMRC contractual homeworkers
This role may be suitable for existing HMRC employees who are contractual homeworkers. Occasional attendance to the office will be required where there is a business need. Please consider the advertised office locations for this role when applying and only select locations from the 'location preferences' section that you can travel to.
Terms and Conditions
Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement, this will be tested as part of the selection process.
HMRC has a presence in every region of the UK. For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide in your application must relate to your own experiences.
Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant application(s) will be withdrawn from the process.
Recording of interviews is prohibited unless explicit agreement is sought in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulations.
Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.
Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant's details held on the IFD will be refused employment.
A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.
New entrants will join on the minimum of the pay band.
Please note that, if you are applying for roles on a part-time basis, the salary agreed will be pro-rata, reflective of the working hours agreed within your contract.
If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.
For more Information for people applying for, or thinking of applying for, roles at HM Revenue and Customs, please see link: Working for HMRC: information for applicants - GOV.UK.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
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) (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window)
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window).
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 (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
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