Private Client Senior Tax 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.
• Assisting partners on the delivery of advisory work, which will include the preparation of reports on matters such as IHT planning, residence, UK trusts and appropriate business structure.
• Preparation and attendance at both existing and potential new client meetings, setting budgets for 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 showing 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.

Qualifications / Education required:

• Minimum requirement to be CTA qualified and have 5 years’ private client tax experience.

Particular aptitudes / skills required:

• 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 all deadlines are met.
• Ability to work independently without supervision, and to show initiative in dealing with clients’ affairs and monitoring their own time budgets.
• Good computer skills, including a sound knowledge of Word and Excel, are required.
• People management skills.
• Commercial awareness.

About Mercer & Hole:

Mercer & Hole is an independent firm, 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 approximately 300 employees across four locations in the UK, with our new flagship office in the heart of the City on 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.

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.
• Understanding: 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.
• Thrive!: We strive to be the best, innovate and always do exceptional work. That’s who we are and what our clients deserve.