HMRC Litigation Support Officer
HM Revenue and Customs
About the job
Job summary
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About the Team
Large Business (LB) is responsible for around 2,000 of the largest businesses that pay a significant proportion of the total business taxes and duties that HMRC collects. The Litigation Team within LB is responsible for transitioning tax and duty investigations into litigation where disputes cannot be settled by agreement. Our work currently includes transfer pricing, diverted profits, and other international direct tax risks, but we are in the process of growing our scope to cover litigation of other taxes and duties.
The team is a mix of tax professionals and litigation support officers who are generally recent law graduates. We work closely with the investigation teams, technical/policy specialists and lawyers both within our Solicitors Office and Legal Services directorate and externally, to prepare cases for the First-tier Tribunal (Tax) and beyond.
Job description
About the Role
HMRC is offering an exciting opportunity to join the Litigation Team as a Litigation Support Officer based in either Bristol, Edinburgh, Leeds or Manchester. Joining one of the largest Civil Service departments and work in a fast multifaceted environment where they will support HMRC’s tax professionals and lawyers in providing high quality services. The post offers excellent professional and personal development opportunities.
HMRC normally seeks to settle tax disputes by reaching agreement thought negotiation. However, where this is not possible resolution may be via litigation.
The LB Litigation Team becomes involved in a case as a decision is taken to litigate, and at this point, a sub team is formed which will include yourself and experienced tax professionals from the LB Litigation team who will direct and support your work.
Collaborating with the existing investigation team, head office policy/technical specialists and lawyers both within our Solicitors Office and Legal Services directorate and externally.
Using your legal and litigation experience to help the team prepare those cases for hearings before the First-tier Tribunal (Tax).
Crafting and preparing evidential material and to ensure that this is identified, organised and in a format suitable for submission to the Tribunal, sometimes at very short notice.
This is a challenging, but ultimately highly rewarding role, requiring you to:
- Work flexibly and as part of a team, working with and maintaining good relationships with colleagues and customers.
- Have determination to ensure the completion of tasks and take ownership for your own area of work.
- Have good interpersonal skills and dedication to ensuring deadlines are met.
- Developing on your good level of knowledge, skills and understanding and work as part of multidisciplinary teams formed from across HMRC.
- Both the LB Litigation Team, and the wider HMRC teams with which you will work, are geographically disperse. Most meetings are via online conferencing but there will be occasions when travel is required.
Person specification
Specific duties vary but will include some of the following:
- Review and collate documentation acquired during investigations.
- Prepare fact papers, chronologies and assisting with the preparation of witness statements.
- Identify relevant documents and produce bundles for submission to the Tribunal, providing support with the drafting of statements of case and other key documents for submission to the Tribunal.
- Attend meetings with external legal advisors (Counsel) and prepare notes of discussions whilst engaging with external expert advisors/witnesses.
- Gaining quick understanding of our specialist processes that are key to the delivery of work in the area to which you are appointed.
Essential Criteria
- Demonstrating qualifications to degree level in law or who have completed a Graduate Diploma in Law, have achieved CILEx level 6 or completed a pre-PEAT training contract OR recent and meaningful experience as a paralegal in a litigation environment.
- Flexibility while working, as part of a team whilst working with and maintaining good relationships with colleagues and customers.
- Using phenomenal communication and listening skills to meet deadlines and manage your own workload responsibly.
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £28,341, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £6,772 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.How to Apply
As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide the following:
- A CV including your job history and previous experiences. Your CV is for information purposes only and will not be scored.
- A 750-word personal statement.
- 3 Behaviour statements of up to 250 words each.
You will be asked to complete a 750-word personal statement showing how you meet the ”Essential Criteria”, please refer to any qualifications and the knowledge you used where relevant and provide examples of the listed criteria and you will also be scored on this. Please provide Actions and Results/Impacts from your examples.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake, please contact us via: ubsrecruitmentexcellence@hmrc.gov.uk – Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example – ‘Please re-open my application – [insert vacancy ref] & vacancy closing date [insert date]’ To check that you are eligible to apply for this role, please review the eligibility information before submitting your application.
Sift
An initial sift will be carried out on your CV and Personal Statement. A full sift will then be conducted on your CV, Personal Statement, and the 3 behaviour examples, with the successful candidates being invited to interview.
Interview
During the panel interview, your experience will be assessed, and you will be asked behaviour-based questions to explore in detail what you are capable of.
You will be asked to give a presentation to demonstrate your ability to distinguish fact from assertion or speculation through reviewing a short written statement. Further details will be provided to you prior to the interview.
Interviews will take place via video link.
Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.
A reserve list may be held for 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.
After interview, a single merit list will be created, and appointments will be made in strict merit order until the set demand is filled in each location. If successful, you will be informed which locations are available when we reach your position on the merit list.
Reasonable Adjustments
We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:
- Contact the UBS Recruitment Excellence Team via ubsrecruitmentexcellence@hmrc.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.
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 and want everyone to feel valued and supported to achieve their potential.
Click here for more information on how we make this happen
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. Please consider the advertised office locations for this role when applying and only select locations from the ‘location preferences’ section that you can travel to.
Terms and Conditions
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.
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.
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.
Recording of interviews is prohibited unless explicit agreement is sought in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulations.
Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.
Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.
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
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.