Manager: Taxation at Santam Insurance

What you will do

This role is responsible for tax advice, strategic input to the business and to ensure tax compliance of the Santam Group. The role represents the Santam Group on the South African Insurance Association (‘SAIA’) Tax Forum to drive tax related industry initiatives and lobbying through liaison with the South African Revenue Service (‘SARS’) on behalf of the industry. The role is further responsible to implement any tax and VAT related changes for the Santam Group and to run the relevant projects in this regard.

Reporting to the Head: Group Finance, you will perform the following functions:

• Manage and review of relevant income tax disclosure in the Annual Financial Statements as well as the external audit process associated with this area.
• Manage and review estimated tax expense for the year for provisional tax purposes.
• Manage and review the calculation of tax for budget and regulatory reporting.
• Manage and / or analyse tax on investments in order to identify opportunities and ensure accuracy and completeness of taxes reported by asset managers.
• Review and approve preparation of income tax returns including annual returns and provisional taxation to ensure timely and accurate submission to SARS. Liaise with SGTS for high level technical review before submission and approval of payments. Provisional tax payments are also reviewed by the Head: Group Finance.
• Review and approve the compilation of the VAT return and VAT payments.
• Oversee and review the VAT reasonability on a monthly basis and ensure that discrepancies are investigated.
• Manage and review preparation of monthly dividend tax returns, withholding tax on interest returns and securities transfer tax returns to ensure timely and accurate submission.
• Manage the Personal Service Provider process to ensure employee’s tax compliance
• Manage and review reconciliation of all taxes paid to SARS statement of accounts.
• Drive the implementation of new SARS and legislative requirements to ensure tax compliance of the Santam Group.
• Monitor Santam Group income tax and VAT compliance, including management of SARS queries and investigations.
• Manage Santam Group’s tax compliance to adhere to Sanlam group policies and requirements.
• Manage and/or prepare various SARS rulings and Voluntary Disclosure Programme applications as required from time to time to ensure tax compliance of the Santam Group.
• Liaise with internal audit for VAT compliance reviews of specific identified areas of the business, including UMA’s and subsidiaries to monitor compliance.
• Monitor areas in the business where international taxes are being paid or withheld and ensure that appropriate processes are implemented to manage the tax risk and recover the taxes efficiently.
• Advise on the tax impact of proposed Corporate Finance transactions with assistance of SGTS and / or external advisors as required, depending on the complexity of the transaction.
• Manage and oversee VAT and tax queries from the business, including subsidiaries and UMA’s to ensure tax compliance of the Santam Group.
• Identify opportunities to minimise tax payable whilst being compliant with the relevant tax legislation.
• Manage the tax team to work independently to pro-actively identify and investigate potential risks and to research and present potential solutions to be implemented.
• Provide coaching and guidance to the Tax and other Group Finance teams and initiate relevant training interventions.

What will make you successful in this role?

Qualification and Experience

• BComm or similar/ CA (SA) with tax specialisation or tax diploma
• Minimum requirement would be 6 - 8 years’ experience in management and the management of tax requirements in a complex business, post qualification.
• Strong technical and compliance knowledge in all areas of South African Corporate Tax and Value-Added Tax (‘VAT’).
• Experience in a short-term insurance environment would be highly recommended.

Closing date : 26 June 2020