The Arora Group Property division was set up in 2005 to provide a property and asset management service. It currently manages over £1.5 billion of property assets which includes operated hotels, a portfolio of externally leased hotels, offices and commercial spaces, as well as land holdings across London, major regional airports and the home counties.

Senior tax accountant will take ownership and responsibility for the UK group of companies that sit within the Arora group. You will manage the tax compliance process from preparation to submission to HMRC covering both UK corporation tax and Non-resident landlord returns for circa 120 companies.

Duties and Responsibilities

Tax compliance

• There are circa 80 offshore entities that sit within the offshore structure comprising of Jersey and Isle of Man companies; partnerships; Jersey property unit trusts; and interest and possession trusts.
• The assets predominantly owned by the offshore structure are virtually 100% property comprising of land banks, Hotels, and Office buildings.
• The tax accountant will have the following responsibilities:
• Registration of an offshore company, trusts, partnerships, Jersey Property Unit Trusts which directly owns UK rental property and applying for gross status
• Preparation of non resident landlord returns and Trust returns together with detailed tax computations using Alpha tax software
• Liaising with the finance team, property team, and trustees on all aspects of the compliance process to ensure that everything is correctly captured and reported on the tax returns.
• To use professional initiative and recommendations where compliance issues are identified e.g. capturing of information at source in an efficient manner; legal and professional fees are captured correctly
• To calculate and recommend payment on accounts and final payments for each company for every tax year, liaising with the treasury team and trustees in this regard

Tax audit

• To prepare for the year end tax audit, which will involve calculating tax provisions, preparing accounting disclosures
• To liaise with Group Financial Accountant and Auditors

Tax planning

• Monitor loss position across the offshore group and where possible, relocate profit making assets within a tax paying entity to entities with suitable losses
• Undertake year end planning. Identify issues and recommend solutions

VAT

• The bookkeeping for each offshore company is undertaken by Arora under an agreement with the trustees. The VAT returns are prepared by the accounts team.
• The tax accountant will have the following responsibilities:
• Register an offshore company with UK rental income for VAT with UK Customs and excise or IOM VAT authorities
• Prepare and submit options to tax over land and buildings

Skills & Experience

• CIMA/ACCA/ACA or CTA (Qualified)
• Strong technical accounting background
• Good knowledge of regulatory requirements covering accounting, tax and duties in the UK and Rest of World
• International exposure from a retail environment is preferred
• Strong systems literacy and excel skills
• Strong communication skills