Indirect Tax Specialist

Senior Executive Officer

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

Personal Statement

You will be asked to provide a Personal Statement up to 750 words. You must demonstrate how you meet the Essential Criteria, (and any Desirable criteria where relevant) and what you and your experience can bring to the role. The Personal Statement will be scored at the sift stage.

CV

As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide a CV, which should detail relevant employment history (up to your last five roles (or last five years, if more than five roles have been held In this time) and your qualifications.

The word limit for the free text box of the CV section is 500 words. Any information provided over this limit will not be considered and your application may be rejected if you exceed the word count as specified. The CV will be scored.

Please note, either a combination of the CV and the Personal Statement, or either one, must clearly demonstrate that you meet all of the essential criteria. If, in the opinion of the Sifting Panel neither demonstrates that the Essential criteria are met, both will be allocated a score of “1”, and no further consideration will be given to the application.

The Sift

The Sift will assess the experience demonstrated in the Personal Statement and CV (which between them should confirm that the candidate has the required experience and technical abilities for the role).

Candidates successful at sift, will be invited to the Interview stage.

The Interview

This will be a blended interview, conducted over Teams consisting of three elements:

• A technical question (or questions) to assess the candidates understanding of the technical aspects of VAT law. You will be tested on your Technical Knowledge and application of VAT law in accordance with Level 3 of “Application of Tax Knowledge” in the Tax Competency Framework ( see attached document).
• A twenty minute presentation based on a hypothetical scenario which will be provided to candidates at least a (calendar) week in advance of their interview (subject to interview dates being confirmed in sufficient time to allow this). The interview panel will assess the experience and technical skills of the candidate, and the extent to which they meet the essential and desirable criteria of the role on the basis of this presentation – it should therefore seek to demonstrate these qualities, and the candidate’s understanding of the role. The panel may ask follow up questions to clarify their understanding, or draw out features of interest in the presentation. There are no specific format requirements for the presentation, as long as it is deliverable via Teams.
• Strength based questions.

Having considered all elements of the performance at interview, including the scores of the individual elements, a decision will be made on the basis of the panel’s opinion of the overall suitability of the candidate for the role in question.

We reserve the right to raise the pass score required at any stage of the process in order to manage the vacancy.

Interview dates to be confirmed.

It is hoped that a sift will be carried out within 21 days of the closing date, and that an interview, if required, will be carried out within 21 days of the sift results. However, these timetables may be subject to change depending on panel and candidate availability, and taking account of the festive and New Year periods.

A reserve list may be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles – if this applies to you, we’ll let you know via your Civil Service Jobs account.

The successful candidate will be appointed in strict merit order regardless of location.

Eligibility

To check that you are eligible to apply, review this eligibility information

Important information for existing HMRC contractual homeworkers:

This role may be suitable for existing HMRC employees who are contractual homeworkers. Occasional attendance to the office will be required where there is a business need, so please review the advertised office locations for this role when applying and only select locations from the ‘location preferences’ section that you are able to travel to.

Reasonable Adjustments

We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process because of a disability, condition, or impairment. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate.

If you need a reasonable adjustment or a change to be made so that you can make your application, review this information on reasonable adjustments, and contact hmrcrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible.

Diversity and Inclusion

At HMRC we are committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues and creating an inclusive and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society we serve.

Diverse perspectives and experiences are critical to our success and we welcome applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role. We’re committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues here at HMRC. We want everyone to feel valued and supported to achieve their potential at HMRC.

For more information on how we make this happen, review this information on our culture and values

Applications received from candidates with a criminal record are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.

We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible after considering operational and customer service needs. We can’t guarantee that we can meet all requests to work flexibly, as agreement will be subject to business ability to accommodate, and any request to work a more flexible arrangement should be made prior to your acceptance of the provisional offer.

Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement, this will be tested as part of the selection process.

The Civil Service runs a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Locations

HMRC has a presence in every region of the UK. For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations.

Security Update

For more information on the level of security checks we will carry out, review this information on security checks

Additional Security Information

Please note: in addition to the standard pre-employment checks for appointment into the Civil Service, all candidates must also obtain National Security Vetting at Security Check (SC) clearance level for this vacancy. You will normally need to meet the minimum UK residency period as determined by the level of vetting being undertaken, which for SC is 5 years UK residency prior to your vetting application. If you have any questions about this residency requirement, please speak to the vacancy holder for this post.

Further Information

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide in your application must relate to your own experiences.

Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant application/s will be withdrawn from the process.

Duplicate applications for the same vacancy will also be withdrawn.

Transferring into HMRC from Civil Service If you are currently working for an ‘Other Government Department’ (OGD) and would like to consider the impact on your pay when joining HMRC, please see the attached document "Combined T&C and OGD Pay English”, found at the bottom of this advert. Further information on staff transfers can be found on gov.uk

Problems during the application process

If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ’Contact point for applicants’ section.

If you think you’ve made a mistake on a short application form (e.g. you’ve ticked the incorrect eligibility box), please contact hmrcrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk at least two working days before the vacancy closes. After this, we won’t be able to reopen your application.

Please use the subject line to insert appropriate wording e.g. Please re-open my application - 320267 & vacancy closing date 05/12/2023. Please note that we cannot amend or re-open your application if you have submitted your full application in the interests of fair and open recruitment.

For reasonable adjustments queries or requests, please see details within reasonable adjustments section above.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel a department has breached the Recruitment Principles. In the first instance, you should raise the matter directly with the department concerned via complaints.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: Click here