Interim Principle Taxation Accountant

Allen Lane is recruiting an interim Principle Taxation Accountant for a local authority in central London. For an initial period of 6 months, you will ensure the Authority’s compliance with all aspects of Indirect Taxation including VAT, Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) and property and land taxes.

As such, key duties include:

• To ensure the timely and accurate submission of statutory tax returns to HMRC;
• To ensure the authority’s compliance with all aspects of indirect taxation while maximising the efficiency of the Council’s position;
• To monitor relevant transactions in the Council’s ledgers and to detect and swiftly remedy any areas or transactions of concern; to continually improve controls and monitoring in this area;
• To provide general training and advice on all aspects of indirect taxation to the organisation both indirectly through publication and regular maintenance of guidance and directly as required;
• To provide specialist taxation advice for specific schemes and projects as necessary;
• To monitor the Council’s VAT Partial Exemption position, providing periodic updates as required to HMRC and liaising with officers are required to ensure the taxation implications of the Council’s capital programme are highlighted and managed
• To liaise with key stakeholders including the HMRC, the external auditor and external partners who provide financial administration support to the authority
• To represent the Council at the London and National VAT groups.
• To support the Corporate Accountancy team in the closure of accounts.

Previous experience in local government accounting is essential as is an in-depth knowledge of the VAT and tax nuances of the sector.