Insider profil
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Top Insider Advice
It is important to keep trying. Not everybody will make it first time, I did not when applying for Tax Professional Training, but I was put on a reserve list and called up later. Many do not make it first time but they do make it second time round. The process for recruitment can be long, but do not get disheartened, this is to give everybody the best chance of being accepted. If you can, get feedback and consider it for future applications. Feedback will often point our your weak area that can easily be improved with a bit of practice. If you do get on a training programme, be aware that though tough, they want you to succeed and will do everything they can to support you in achieving the end goal. Do say if you need extra support, they cannot provide it unless you tell them you need it. I am dyslexic and they took this into account for exams providing computer rather than writing and also extra time for reading.
Career path
Customer Compliance Manager
HMRC
Started 10/2021 to PresentPetroleum Tax Inspector
HMRC
From 07/2017 to 10/2021Customer Compliance Manager
HMRC
From 09/2013 to 07/2017Company
What do you like about your job and the company?
Within HMRC I am lucky to work with a very diverse group of colleagues. This provides a constant opportunity to learn about the best way I can engage and support my colleagues which also feeds into the great relationships that can be built with colleagues. As a disabled member of staff I have always been impressed with the support I get from both my manager and colleagues so that I can do my job without worrying about problems. Though I deal mainly with groups in Finance, this still leaves a lot of variety as there are so many different fields and and approaches across my customers. From international branches to household named groups. I am constantly learning from my customers and no meeting is ever the same and always brings up new challenges. I get a great feeling of accomplishment form building honest relationships with my customers, especially when I can influence their approach to tax. I am constantly learning different approaches to achieving this, learning both from customers and colleagues. which enables me to constantly learn and improve.
Greatest achievements
Petroleum Revenue tax is a very specific tax applying only to oil & gas extraction from oil fields approved before March 1993. This had very high tax rates (75%) with the intent it would be repaid to help cover the costs of decommissioning the fields. Owners of the fields changed a lot over the intervening years and this makes for very complex calculation for tax repayment that need to follow strict rules. I created simple flow charts for the ownership changes, providing a much simpler method for identifying how repayments would flow back and ensuring much simpler calculations that could be easily completed in the flowchart to ensure correct allocations. I checked an existing calculation prepared the old way and managed to spot a minor error in the calculation that would have resulted in HMRC repaying £100m tax which was not correctly due. It also meant that future tax repayments would be calculated correctly and it was easier to check and follow the calculation to spot any similar errors.
Bal .
Social Media Support Officer
Top Insider Advice
Look for opportunities to build your skills, develop your talents and reach your potential. Sounds very wordy but learning is a lifelong journey and we never know everything I have found that trying something different has kept me happier at work and given me a sense of self satisfaction. It doesn't have to be work related it can include learning any new skill from sewing to pottery. At the moment I am currently spending 30 minutes a week completing learning around marketing and social media which is providing me with skills to better understand my role and that roles around me.
Sam C
Top Insider Advice
A job can sound great from the headline, but read the description properly and think carefully if this is a good first job on a ladder of progression or could it be the next one on your way onwards and upwards? Ask yourself what are your strengths? What am I good at? What needs working on? Where do I want to go and how am I going to get there? If you aren't actually too sure where the path may lead, don't overly worry yourself, picking up skills and knowledge in any job is always a good thing. The trick is to know what you have and what you need next. You may have good experience in one area of work, but you need some experience in another to move forward, so sometime a sideways move can work too! I did a sideways temporary move in to VAT import policy as I wanted to understand how it fitted with my litigation work and how policy was developed. I did this for 7 months and it gave me insight in to how things like ministerial submissions were drafted and how communication with stakeholders was so important in this. I used this experience to further my knowledge and it helped me do a better job application for my current role as it demonstrated I was willing to stretch and develop myself. Keep trying and learn from any feedback you are given- it can be very useful ! Good luck!
Paul
Lead Business Manager
Top Insider Advice
Make a difference in whatever you do. The roles in your career may change frequently or be quite stable. You may stick to one profession, end up working in a few or work in one you would never have expected to work in. Your best profession may not yet even exist! But whatever you do - make a positive difference. That difference can be to your customers, the public, the service you provide or the people you work with. It will be different in the roles you do - but make sure you change things for the better.
