Tax Advisor – Tax Department - Durban, South Africa at Bowmans (Law Firm)

EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS:

• Chartered Accountant (SA) or BCom (Accounting), with 1-3 years post articles experience within a tax practice
• Corporate, compliance and tax dispute resolution experience
• Multi-disciplinary tax experience, international tax experience and deferred tax experience would be an advantage
• High academic achiever, with proven numeracy and language skills
• Completion of a post graduate diploma or degree in taxation is a pre-requisite – if this is not already completed, it will be a condition of employment

JOB ACCOUNTABILITIES:

• Working as part of a team providing assistance to clients on a variety of matters within a specialised tax practice
• Preparing or reviewing tax calculations and tax returns
• Furnishing opinions and advice for clients on various tax issues, including legal and tax research
• Providing tax related input on transaction structures, including in a cross-border context
• Providing tax related drafting support and commentary on legal documents

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES:

Initiative, enthusiasm and optimism

• Acting without prompting but aware of risks
• Takes action to achieve goals beyond what is required
• Optimistic in handling challenges and setting out for the best outcomes
• Genuinely engage with clients and colleagues in an enthusiastic manner
• Taking responsibility in all matters in which you are involved
• Taking pride in excellence of work done

Perseverance and resilience

• Ability to work well under pressure without compromising work quality or standards. 
• Ability to move past obstacles to achieve end results in an efficient and professional manner.
• Ability to recover quickly from setbacks.

Results driven

• Uncompromising attitude to service delivery.
• Delivery of results even under heavy pressure.  
• Ability to handle high volumes as well as meet deadlines, with the view to adding value to the business by delivering the required results.

Team player

• Working together with colleagues and staff to enhance the team’s overall performance
• Leveraging off team synergies and to ensure a productive, efficient and caring work environment

Ethical

• Displays honesty and integrity at all times

Client Focus

• Dedicated to understanding and meeting the expectations and requirements of clients.
• Obtains the necessary information from clients and utilises the information for the delivery of service to the client. 
• Establishes and maintains effective relationships with clients. 

Work Standards

• Sets high goals or standards of performance for self, producing work timeously, accurately and of a consistently high standard. 
• Able to work according to a fee budget.

Planning and organizing

• Set priorities, manage schedules and plan accordingly in a constantly pressurised environment.

OTHER SKILLS:

Technical skills

• Possesses the tax technical skill to research, interpret and argue legal points, in order to deliver excellent tax opinions, transaction structures and legal documents.
• Strong critical reasoning
• Ability to apply theory in a practical and commercially astute manner

Business and financial skills

• Possesses the necessary commercial understanding of client requirements in order to deliver excellent client service
• Ability to utilise information from financial statements or other accounting records, within the context of tax computations, tax returns, tax opinions or tax due diligences (on-the-job training will be provided to enhance these skills)
• Ability to perform tax related calculations 

Communication

• Able to communicate effectively and express ideas clearly
• Ability to argue persuasively
• Produce documents that have appropriate organisation and structure, correct grammar and language, and which are easy to understand.

Computer Literacy

• Proficiency in all relevant computer software, including Word and Outlook.
• Proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint is a pre-requisite – if this is not already present, on-the-job training will be provided to address these weaknesses