Private Client Tax – Senior Manager in St Albans

This is an opportunity to join a friendly, dynamic tax team in our St Albans office. The postholder will be responsible for the annual compliance work on their own portfolio of clients, working directly for partners. They will also be responsible for assisting the partners with planning issues and for training and supervision of staff. The client base consists mainly of HNWIs including sole-traders and partnerships. Although the majority of our clients are UK resident, non-resident and non-domiciliary issues do arise, particularly planning for individuals coming to and from the UK. We also have a number of clients who are beneficiaries of UK and non-UK trusts.

Key responsibilities

• Dealing with all aspects of income tax (including National Insurance) and capital gains tax including reviewing PAYE coding notices where appropriate.
• Reviewing Self-Assessment tax returns prepared by other members of staff for approval by the client and electronically filing them.
• Liaising with clients on routine and ad-hoc assignments including correspondence by email, telephone and face-to-face meetings. Matters to include inheritance tax, income tax and capital gains tax.
• Assisting partners on the delivery of advisory work which will include the preparation of reports on matters such as IHT planning, residence, UK trusts, appropriate business structure.
• Preparation and attendance at both existing and potential new client meetings, setting budgets for the follow-up work, and ensuring the work is carried out in a timely manner and within budget.
• Correspondence with HMRC in relation to s9A enquiries and preparing disclosures under the digital disclosure facility.
• Overseeing the collation of all the information needed to prepare the tax return involving liaising with other third-party professionals and the clients themselves.
• Promptly dealing with routine post received in connection with those clients.
• Prioritising and organising own work to ensure consistently high standard of client care and to meet HMRC deadlines – working without supervision and to show initiative in dealing with clients' affairs.
• Billing clients on a quarterly basis, including making reserves and keeping partners up to date with any billing concerns.
• Responsible for monitoring own time budgets and chargeability.
• Attendance and contribution at internal departmental management meetings.
• Networking at events for business development.
• Use of computer CCH packages and SharePoint.

Qualifications/education required

• Minimum requirement to be CTA qualified and have 5 years' private client tax experience.
• Client facing experience is required including being comfortable speaking to and meeting with clients on a regular basis.
• Good organisational skills will be required to organise their own work to ensure that all deadlines are met.
• Ability to work independently without the need for supervision, and able to show initiative in dealing with clients' affairs and monitoring their own time budgets.
• Good computer skills including a sound knowledge of Word & Excel are required.

About Mercer & Hole

Mercer & Hole is an independent firm since being founded in 1905. Today, we are proud to say that we are a growing top 40 accountancy firm performing Audit, Corporate Tax, and advisory work. We are also a top 50 UK firm for both private client tax work and financial planning. The firm is led by 27 partners, many of whom are top 4 trained, and we value teamwork with approx 300 employees across four locations in the UK, with our new flagship office in the heart of the City in Lombard Street.

We work with businesses and individuals and provide a quality, personalised service with high levels of expertise across all aspects of audit, accountancy, tax, and financial planning. We have the technical knowledge and excellence, but we also aim to give our clients practical options, and always make complex issues easy to understand. The secret to our success is a commitment to deliver only the best for our clients and to exceed their expectations from our initial contact and throughout our relationship.

We are recognised for being friendly and approachable, taking the time to get to know our clients as people so that we understand what is important to them, their business ventures, and their family commitments. The firm has a varied, international client base and an international presence as we are founding members of The International Accounting Group and TAG Law which aligns over 16,000 professionals globally.

Making a difference

People and businesses are facing unprecedented change. Across all sectors, business owners, Boards and Executive Management Teams must continually re-evaluate their position and make tough decisions that will affect their future goals and those of their organisations. We work with a range of clients from start-ups, SMEs and larger corporations, including listed business, across a wide scope of industry sectors to provide them with a range of specialised services. At Mercer & Hole, we are known for our exceptional level of client care. We believe taking time to get to know our clients gives us a greater understanding of their business goals to provide real value.

Services offered

• Audit and Accounting (note, audit services not provided to listed entities)
• Tax compliance and advisory
• Business and strategic advice
• VAT including partial exemption issues
• Virtual Finance, including bookkeeping, management accounting, financial modelling and payroll
• "World Class Finance" - review of financial processes and controls, including improvement recommendations and implantation guidance
• Regulatory returns
• Valuation services
• Merger and acquisition support and advice (including Financial Due Diligence)
• Private client services and exit strategy planning
• Raising finance

We really want to attract and retain individuals who share our Values:

• Together - The firm with the family feel. Express gratitude. Smile. Be humble and confident. Have fun.
• Resilient - Change is imminent, and business is imperfect. Be open minded & agile. Assume positive intent and exercise the power of positive thinking. Each individual matters and will be heard and respected. Honesty, integrity, empathy and kindness are fundamental.
• Supportive - We support what is important to you and show kindness in our behaviour to each other. We encourage each other to realise our potential. We strive to be the best, innovate and always do exceptional work. That’s who we are and what our clients deserve.

St Albans (hybrid working: 60% in the office, 40% remote). Full time or part time.