Land Transaction Tax Specialist

Job summary

We’re responsible for Land Transaction Tax and Landfill Disposals Tax. Our work raises revenue to support public services, like the NHS and schools, in communities across Wales. But that’s not all, we're also involved with and support future tax design for Wales.

Join a place with purpose
You’ll join a team of 100+ talented people from across 14 different professions. Our culture is best described as innovative, collaborative and kind. By working together, we’ll deliver a fair tax system for Wales.

Our people
You’ll be working with people from a wide range of backgrounds and experience. From Operations, Policy, Digital and Data, HR, Communications to Finance – there’s a place for you in our friendly team.

You’ll be our greatest asset

You’ll be joining an inclusive organisation and be part of a team where you can thrive, be rewarded and heard.

We’re recognised as one of the top organisations for people engagement in the Civil Service People Survey. Inclusion and fairness are one of our strongest areas, as well as pay and benefits – our People Survey results say it all!

We’re also recognised for being innovative and a digital, ‘cloud-based’ organisation that supports hybrid and flexible working enabling a great work-life balance.

More about working for us, our roles and our Corporate Plan 2025 - 2028 .

Job description

Working directly to the Senior Land Transaction Tax Specialist, you’ll play a vital role in ensuring that complex tax questions are answered accurately and in time, assessing tax returns for accuracy, addressing any inaccuracies through an “enquiry” process, and helping to upskill our customers through interactive face to face training and webinars. You’ll also play an important part in helping to develop our strategy to reduce the risk that the wrong amount of tax will be paid.

You’ll enjoy analysing information to reach a conclusion, explaining complex matters to customers, working as part of a team, coming up with new and original ideas and organising your own workload to prioritise excellent customer service.

The Land Transaction Tax Specialist will need to be a team player with an analytical mind. You’ll be able to make an effective decision based on all available information. You’ll be able to share information with other team members and be comfortable with receiving challenge and giving challenge to other team members about each other’s decisions.

You’ll be a key player both internally as part of a small but specialised Land Transaction Tax Technical Team; working with other internal functions such as Data and Communications to help reduce tax risks; and working externally with solicitors, accountants and taxpayers.

We’re looking for individuals who can help improve the way we work with new and original ideas.

“Working in the WRA has provided me with opportunities to develop my skills and be part of an innovative team developing our approach to tax. The work that we do in this team is vital in helping and supporting taxpayers get things right.”

- Nina Engelhardt, Head of Operations

Person specification

Customer service approach

• Work with the customer service team to ensure that they deliver accurate, clear, and timely technical advice to customers. You’ll provide coaching and mentoring to help them develop their approach.
• To help taxpayers pay the right tax at the right time, you’ll provide technical advice directly to customers for more complex queries, following the WRA’s communication principles. You’ll be supported by the Senior LTT Specialist and Policy / Legal team in this work.
• Help develop and deliver training materials for our customers, to help increase their understanding of complex tax issues. This will include helping to deliver tax forums around Wales and online webinars.
• Provide assurance that taxpayer information is handled confidentially, correctly, and efficiently.
• The role may require occasional travel

Identify and resolve risks

• Use a range of information; including tax returns, third party intelligence and publicly available sources, to identify potential tax loss risks
• Work with colleagues in the WRA and external stakeholders to better understand tax risks. Help to create and develop new campaigns to reduce those risks
• Develop plans for addressing tax returns where the tax has already been incorrectly Identify the most appropriate approach, which could be informal engagement with the taxpayer, or a formal enquiry process
• Use investigation powers to establish facts as part of the tax return checks. Reach a conclusion in line with the WRA’s published guidance and LTT legislation. Assess the taxpayer’s level of co-operation to determine whether a penalty is due.

Working with others

• Identify areas for improvement in work processes. Work with colleagues across the wider organisation to implement improvements
• Ensure you stay informed of tax and process developments. Keep your own team, and the customer service team informed.

Developing yourself and the organisation

• Become a specialist in LTT so you can assist colleagues and customers with complex technical queries
• Invite and act on feedback from customers, stakeholders, and colleagues to make improvements to the service the WRA provides

No previous knowledge of LTT is required for this role as training and support will be provided.

Candidate Information Session

If this seems like a role you’d be interested in, join us for our virtual Candidate Information Sessions. You’ll meet the Line Manager, get an overview of the role as well a feeling for what it’s like to work at the WRA. We’ll also talk through our benefits and provide helpful tips for your application with us. Please register for one of the sessions below:

Register here for 12.30pm on 27th May: Business Wales Events Finder - Candidate Information Session - Land Transaction Tax Specialist

Register here for 16.00pm on 27th May: Business Wales Events Finder - Candidate Information Session - Land Transaction Tax Specialist

on Candidate information session

Languages

We’ve undertaken an objective assessment of the Welsh language skills needed to undertake the duties of this role. For this role:
Welsh language skills - Welsh skills are not essential. This means that you do not need Welsh language skills to undertake this role and these skills won’t be assessed during the recruitment process. However, we actively encourage all staff to learn or improve their Welsh language skills and offer a range of opportunities to suit everyone.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £37,111, Welsh Revenue Authority contributes £10,751 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• 31 days annual leave + Bank holidays, and 2 Privilege days
• Flexible and hybrid working
• Generous employer pension schemes with a contribution of up to 28.97%
• Tusker car scheme
• Vivup Cycle2Work and advances of salary for season Travel Tickets
• Lifestyle Benefits offering discounts on shopping, restaurants and entertainment
• Wellbeing hour each week
• Access to subsidised sports groups
• Generous family-friendly leave policies
• Free Welsh language courses and time off to learn
• Access to a range of staff diversity networks
• Free counselling and support service via our Vivup Employee Assistance Programme and Your Care Health platform
• A thriving culture that’s described as innovative, collaborative and kind.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

We’ll always be clear about how we assess your application, at each stage of the process. This will usually include:

• Assessment of your Application Form and CV against the relevant Success Criteria
• A panel interview (if you’re successful at the initial sift stage) Interviews will take place in person.
• If any additional assessments are needed for this role, such as a test or presentation at interview, we’ll let you know in advance.
• Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift will be conducted using the lead behaviour, Making Effective Decisions.

We’re proud to be a Disability Confident Leader so we’ll ask you if you need any adjustments at each stage of the recruitment process. So that we can support you in a way that works for you, we’ll offer a pre-interview accessibility chat to anyone that declares a disability or needs any adjustments. This will take place with someone who is independent of the recruitment process, and you won’t be placed at any disadvantage as a result of needing adjustments.

A reserve list may be held for this role for applicants that have scored above the appointable threshold at interview. This means that if a similar vacancy becomes available in the next 12 months, we may contact you to offer you the role.

We recommend you review the job description (or candidate pack) under the 'attachments' section before completing your application.

Success Criteria

Behaviours

Criteria

Assessed in personal statement and CV

Assessed during interview or assessment

Making Effective Decisions

Analyse and use a range of relevant, credible information from internal and external sources to support decisions. Invite challenge and where appropriate involve others in decision making. Display confidence when making difficult decisions, even if they prove to be unpopular.

Yes

Yes

Communicating and Influencing

Communicate in a straightforward, honest and engaging manner, choosing appropriate styles to maximise understanding and impact. Encourage the use of different communication methods and ensure communication has a clear purpose and takes into account people’s individual needs.

Yes

Yes

Managing a Quality Service

Work with stakeholders to set priorities, objectives and timescales. Successfully deliver high quality outcomes that meet the customers’ needs and gives value for money. Identify risks and resolve issues efficiently. Involve a diverse range of colleagues, stakeholders and delivery partners in developing suggestions for improvements.

Yes

Yes

Strengths

Analytical

You seek and analyse information to inform decisions based on the best available evidence.

No

Yes

Team Player

You work well as part of a team and strive to ensure the team pulls together and is effective.

No

Yes

Improver

You look for better ways of doing things and enjoy coming up with new and original ideas.

No

Yes

Experience

Customer service experience

Yes

No

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

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)

Working for the Civil Service

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.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : WRA Recruitment Team
• Email : Recruitment@wra.gov.wales
• Telephone : 03000254000

Recruitment team

• Email : Recruitment@wra.gov.wales

Further information

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition. See the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles where this is set out.
If you feel your application has not been treated in line with the recruitment principles, and you wish to complain, you should contact the Head of HR.
Email: hr@wra.gov.wales
If you’re not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

Attachments

Job Description - Land Transaction Tax Specialist - en (Final) Opens in new window (pdf, 444kB)Disgrifiad swydd Arbenigwr Treth Trafodiadau Tir -cy_gb (Final) Opens in new window (pdf, 308kB)