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Professional taxation technician

Professional taxation technician

Level 4 - Higher Technical Occupation

Prepare, co-ordinate and implement tasks that support the creation of taxation returns and their supporting documentation and statements.

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Summary

This occupation is found in organisations of all sizes whether small, medium, large or global. This occupation is present in public, private, and third sector organisations. Professional taxation technicians may work in the taxation, accounts or finance department of an organisation or a professional accountancy and taxation advisory firm.

The broad purpose of the occupation is to prepare, co-ordinate and implement tasks that support the creation of taxation returns and their supporting documentation and statements. Professional taxation technicians apply their technical knowledge and skills to specific tasks within a taxation team. Tasks may include supervising junior taxation assistants and others to deliver processes that meet stakeholder needs as required by government tax regimes. They may also assist senior tax advisors, accountants, management and other stakeholders by providing timely financial and taxation data and reports. They ensure compliance with internal controls regarding the reporting of taxation. This includes tasks that involve interactions with His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), applying legislation and complying with regulations, ethical and professional codes.

In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders. This could include junior colleagues, senior managers, clients and customers, suppliers, lenders, government agencies and auditors. They take a risk-based view of transactions and data to identify key tax risks and help to mitigate those risks. A Professional taxation technician will work alone as well as in, or supervising, a team. A typical day could include being in an office overseeing data entry into government tax returns and supporting documentation, tax reconciliations, identifying and pursuing overpayments and repayments of tax and forecasting and reporting on tax liabilities both outstanding and likely to arise. They may be involved in researching and resolving taxation problems. It is essential that people in this occupation are comfortable using digital tools and keeping up to date with changes in the occupation.

An employee in this occupation will be responsible for completing and quality assuring tax returns and supporting documents and statements. They provide key reliable taxation data on a day-to-day basis.

Typical job titles include:

Junior tax advisor
Tax assistant
Tax technician

Keywords:

Accounting
Finance
Professional Taxation Technician
Tax Returns
Taxation

Knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs)

K1: Principles of professional responsibilities and ethics in a tax environment, including approaches to interpreting ethics in complex situations.
K2: Principles of legal regulations relevant to an organisation’s tax affairs, such as tax legislation, and law affecting the tax affairs of stakeholders.
K3: Principles of accounting relevant to an organisation’s tax affairs, such as accounting for taxation and double entry that may impact on business tax calculations.
K4: The wider tax professional landscape, including the role of a tax technician, the requirement to stay abreast of changes in tax technology and practice, and awareness of the role of His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and professional bodies.
K5: Principles of personal and business taxation to prepare tax calculations.
K6: Principles of personal and business taxation to prepare HMRC forms, including understanding and complying with filing deadlines.
K7: Principles of a specialist area of taxation to be able to prepare specialist tax calculations.
K8: Situations that may lead to additional tax, penalties, and interest arising, and the rules and procedures used by HMRC to calculate penalties and interest.
K9: Systems of risk management and financial control, and identification of potential vulnerabilities, negligence, and deliberate actions that could lead to issues, such as internal fraud or money laundering or tax inaccuracies and errors.
K10: The importance of applying a transparent, objective, and sustainable approach to meet the ethical requirements of the profession, such as how to apply Professional Rules and Practice Guidelines (PRPG), Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation (PRCT), and Standards for Tax Planning, and ensuring that HMRC is provided with all relevant information necessary to be assured that the stakeholder’s tax affairs are correctly stated.
K11: Principles of data analysis, data security, and cyber security to support collation, analysis, and compliant handling of data, and working safely online.
K12: Workload management principles to plan, organise and prioritise own tasks, and manage time effectively.
K13: Approaches used for building and maintaining collaborative, professional relationships with internal and external stakeholders to deliver taxation tasks.
K14: The nature and importance of key climate, environmental, and emerging sustainability challenges, and the impact on sustainable business practices, risk, and government regulation, leading to the potential tax benefits of economic sustainability for stakeholders, such as energy efficiency related to capital allowances and sustainability requirements for different sizes of businesses.
K15: The impact of equality, diversity and inclusion on service delivery within taxation, for example improving the tax position of individuals and businesses by improving accessibility with the move to making tax digital.
K16: The importance of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and keeping up to date with relevant statutory obligations and procedural best practice to help improve own professional practice.

S1: Collate, analyse, and use financial information to support evidence-based, sustainable tax decisions for stakeholders, such as individuals and businesses.
S2: Undertake taxation activities within the scope and limits of their role and tax specialism, such as the preparation of tax information for individuals, sole traders, partnerships or limited companies, escalating issues to more senior colleagues where appropriate.
S3: Apply relevant principles and legislation when undertaking taxation activities to ensure records are compliant.
S4: Apply professional scepticism when undertaking taxation activities, being alert to conditions which may indicate possible misstatement of information due to error or fraud, establishing the facts sensitively and being aware of unconscious bias, and using those facts to inform and evaluate decision making in the context of providing accurate information to HMRC.
S5: Interpret information for tax purposes, such as using judgement to determine the correct way to report transactions or items of income or expenditure.
S6: Participate in or support others with quality improvement activities, for example the improvement of personal working practices.
S7: Use software packages to assist with taxation tasks in line with cyber and data security requirements, using data securely and safely, including backing up data.
S8: Deliver taxation tasks with a critical eye to trends, demonstrating a ‘right first-time approach’.
S9: Use workload management principles to plan, organise, and prioritise own tasks and manage time effectively, such as systems for managing key tax filing dates, penalty dates, and enquiry deadlines.
S10: Use taxation information to add value to stakeholders through use of data visualisations, analysis, and interpretation, and communicate tax information in a way that non-tax specialist stakeholders can understand.
S11: Undertake file management activities, such as preparing and collating information, making accurate file notes and managing version control.
S12: Build and maintain collaborative, professional relationships with internal and external stakeholders to deliver taxation tasks, recognising the importance of equality, diversity and inclusion.
S13: Communicate taxation information through different media to facilitate stakeholder understanding, considering the risks and benefits to the organisation of social media and other digital applications.

B1: Actively engages in the wider organisation to provide information that contributes to influencing stakeholders, such as peers, colleagues and clients.
B2: Applies a transparent, objective, and sustainable approach to meet the ethical requirements of the profession and actively encourages this behaviour with colleagues within their team.
B3: Committed to personal wellbeing and has an awareness of support and resources available.
B4: Adaptable and accepts changing priorities and working requirements to enable self and colleagues the flexibility to maintain high standards in a changing environment.
B5: Reflects on own practice and seeks learning opportunities for Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
B6: Works collaboratively with others, contributing to cultivating an open, honest, and empathetic work environment, and actively encourages this behaviour with colleagues in their team.

Duties

Duty D1

Undertake scheduled reporting of taxation information. This will include the timely collation of data from a range of sources, including both predictable routine taxation, finance and accounting data requirements, and unexpected requirements.

Duty D2

Prepare and review tax returns and supporting schedules and documentation for the area of tax specialism relevant to the team

Duty D3

Assist in the full compliance process, from requesting information from stakeholders, to completing final tax returns which are drafted to send for agreement.

Duty D4

Assist with claims for reliefs and repayments within legislative timescales, such as the impact of the tax calendar.

Duty D5

Complete and maintain taxation records, including the timely collation of routine and specialised data from a range of sources, for example different functions within one organisation, or a range of external clients if operating in practice.

Duty D6

Assist in maintaining robust and auditable records of taxation activities, including working papers and communications that inform the completion of taxation returns and documentation

Duty D7

Assist in the creation of solutions for stakeholders on a range of tax matters, such as Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax, Corporation Tax, and VAT.

Duty D8

Assist in dealing with HMRC enquiries, and comply with the requirements of HMRC and government digital systems.

Duty D9

Undertake tax analysis of key data, such as income and expenditure to determine appropriate tax treatment.

Duty D10

Apply professional scepticism to identify and evaluate what information is missing, inaccurate, or incomplete, and takes steps to obtain or validate it.

Duty D11

Co-ordinate input from colleagues and peers within areas such as auditing and assurance.

Duty D12

Assist senior colleagues in liaising with stakeholders to gather information and communicate on routine matters.

Duty D13

Communicate and present accurate and timely data to stakeholders on an ad hoc and regular basis, using an appropriate channel to meet deadlines.

Duty D14

Build and maintain strong stakeholder relationships, including with finance colleagues within the organisation.

Duty D15

Use financial digital and technology systems and processes safely and securely to support the delivery of accurate and timely tax information.

Duty D16

Deliver taxation activities and ensure data is collected and stored accurately, taking account of confidentiality, reputational risks, and data security.

Duty D17

Identify and draw attention to opportunities for enhancing delivery by providing additional services such as support for meeting overseas tax obligations.

Duty D18

Identify and draw attention to opportunities for enhancing delivery by improving working processes.

Duty D19

Collaborate with stakeholders at appropriate levels to deliver a service that meets customers' needs with a commitment to professional and ethical standards, such as the professional code of conduct and duty of confidentiality, as appropriate.

Duty D20

Undertake Continuous Professional Development by keeping up to date with relevant statutory obligations and procedural best practice.