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The Indirect Tax Directorate in HMRC’s Customer Strategy and Tax Design group is made up of tax and policy professionals with responsibility for indirect tax policy. Working with colleagues from HMRC, HM Treasury and across government the directorate leads on some of the most significant aspects of the UK tax system.

Thank you for your interest in this role. This is an exciting opportunity to join the senior leadership team in HMRC. There could not be a more exciting time to be a senior leader in HMRC as we undergo huge transformational change which affects all our customers and all our people.

As Director for Indirect Tax you will be a key player in designing indirect tax policies that progress HMRC towards our Tax Administration Strategy. You will be responsible for leading the wider organisation to secure revenue for essential public services, make it easy for customers to get it right, and promote public trust in the tax system.

This is a fantastic opportunity for a proven leader who has a track record of driving change and experience of working in fast paced environments. The successful candidate will also join my Group's diverse senior leadership team, who bring a wide range of skills, characteristics and experience, and will be expected to play an active part in the leadership of our group.

This is a Policy Director role in Customer Strategy & Tax Design. The Director is a member of the Customer Strategy & Tax Design Senior Leadership Team reporting to Jonathan Athow DG.

Indirect taxes raise around £190 billion for the Exchequer each year. This represents a substantial and growing proportion of overall tax revenue. Tax gap statistics show that there is more tax and duty that is due but not currently collected.

The purpose of the role is to design indirect tax policies that contribute to HMRC’s strategic objectives, securing revenue for essential public services, making it easy for customers to get it right, and promoting public trust.

Key Responsibilities

• Developing with HM Treasury indirect tax policies to achieve the government’s fiscal and policy objectives.
• Drive improvements to reduce the tax gap, by ensuring indirect taxes are secure from error, fraud and avoidance.
• Chairing the Joint VAT Consultative Committee.
• Designing policies that are informed by customer insight from the earliest stages, so that products and processes are easy and low-cost for customers and HMRC to operate.
• Leading on assuring the administration and delivery of indirect taxes including collaborating and managing peers on large complex programmes for example as HMRC’s Service Owner for VAT.
• Using customer insight to design, develop and implement new taxes, such as the recently introduced the Plastic Packaging Tax and Carbon Emissions Tax.
• Engaging proactively across HMRC to develop risk products and responses to improve taxpayer compliance and protect revenue.
• Working with HMT, to identify and deliver reforms to the indirect tax regimes to deliver HMRC’s strategic objectives.
• Engaging across government and internationally, representing the UK and HMRC professionally, taking opportunities to influence.
• Ensuring close alignment of policy work with customs policy teams on border issues.
• Lead a team of over 300, including many tax experts, and continue their development and support them to deliver their objectives.
• Build collaborative and productive working relationships with a broad range of senior HMRC colleagues, senior HMT officials and Ministers.

To be successful in this role, you will need to be an inspirational leader with extensive experience of collaborating to design and deliver policy effectively.

Essential Criteria:

• A strong track record of policy leadership, with the ability to work collaboratively to design effective policies in a large, complex, fast-paced environment
• Evidence of excellent people leadership, with a proven ability to lead teams of technical experts, and adept at leading through ambiguity
• Excellent senior stakeholder management skills, including at ministerial level or equivalent eg, CEO or other C-Suite level roles, with the ability to work through challenging issues while maintaining trust and delivering positive outcomes
• Excellent communication skills at all levels, and in writing, ensuring that complex issues are set out in a simple and accessible way that is influential and authoritative

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience or knowledge of indirect taxes including any professional qualifications – CTA, ACCA, ATT, HMRC TSP (or predecessor) or similar.

As a Civil Service employee, you’ll be entitled to a large range of benefits. This includes:

• 25 days annual leave on entry, increasing on a sliding scale to 30 days after 5 years’ service. This is in addition to your public holidays.
• Interest-free loans allowing you to spread the cost of an annual travel season ticket or a new bicycle.
• A competitive contributory pension scheme that you can enter as soon as you join and where we will make a significant contribution to the cost of your pension. Your contribution comes out of your salary before any tax is taken and will continue to provide valuable benefits for you and your family if you are too ill to continue to work or die before you retire.
• Flexible working patterns and access to Flexible Working Schemes allowing you to vary your working day as long as you work your total hours.
• Generous paid maternity and paternity leave which is notably more than the statutory minimum offered by many other employers.
• Use of onsite facilities (where applicable).
• Occupational sick pay.

Job contact :

Name :
Sarah Hawes
Email :
[email protected]

Recruitment team

Email :
[email protected]