Job Summary

We are looking for a Head of Tax, US & Americas to join our team at Standard Chartered Bank in NY. 

The summary of core responsibilities, requirements, as well as the performance expectations of a Head of Tax, US & Americas are outlined below:

•    Value Creation - formulate and implement strategies to optimise US ETR and impact on RoTE within risk appetite, while partnering stakeholders to create a culture of robust control and continuous improvement in tax reporting and forecasting.
•    Value Protection - Ensure adherence to federal, state, and local tax laws, and oversee accurate and timely tax filings. Identify and mitigate potential tax risks to avoid audit controversy and dispute, penalties, and legal issues, so tax risk is well managed and remains within risk appetite.
•    Advocacy – help shape / influence regional tax policy and legislation that is sustainable and achieves the policy objectives with minimum compliance and collateral costs.
•    Business Partner - Provide tax-related strategic insights and guidance for key business decisions and in alignment with our commercial strategy, having regard to building long term shareholder value.
•    As an SME, act as the primary contact with tax authorities and regulators to maintain our reputation as a responsible taxpayer.
•    Lead and develop the tax team, fostering continuous learning and professional growth.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy
•    Manage US & Americas tax affairs in alignment with our commercial strategy, having regard to building long term shareholder value and to maintaining our reputation as a responsible taxpayer with tax authorities and regulators, consistent with the Group’s Strategy.
•    Understand and contribute to the US & Americas business strategy.
•    Partner internal stakeholders, maintain relationships with the Tax Authorities and other policy makers including representation of relevant industry support groups with a view to provide advocacy efforts to effect tax policy change that is sustainable and achieves the policy objectives with minimum compliance and collateral costs in the interest of the Bank and clients.

Business
•    Provide oversight for the provision by external advisers of all tax matters and reporting advice to business and on corporate transactions, where required partnering with Business Tax team members.
•    Sign off all tax aspects of material format approvals such as product country addendums, change in structure forms and profit / capital repatriation requests.
•    Partner with Business units to ensure impact assessments are undertaken for all tax law changes with a material impact on the US & America’s tax profile and ensure key stakeholders are kept informed of material impacts of these developments where relevant.
•    Support clients by proactively managing US & Americas taxation to facilitate successful business within tax risk appetite.
•    Establish and maintain relationships with local business units and support functions stakeholders
•    Work closely with the Business (Product) and Functional tax teams and Tax specialist groups as required in promoting general tax awareness among local business units including identification and execution of tax planning opportunities, value creation initiatives, and implementation of appropriate measures to mitigate potential areas of tax exposure (consistent with the Group’s approach to managing tax).
•    Manage Business (Product) and Functional Tax teams to provide or oversee the provision by external tax advice to local business units and on corporate transactions impacting their business or functions.

Governance

• Manage governance arrangements relevant for US America’s direct & indirect taxes.
• Take personal responsibility for understanding the risk and compliance requirements of the role and communicating the same to the team. Understand and comply with, in letter and spirit, all applicable laws and regulations, including those governing anti money laundering, terrorist financing and sanctions; the Group’s policies and
• procedures and the Group Code of Conduct. Effectively and collaboratively identify, escalate, mitigate and resolve risk and compliance matters.
• Embed the Group’s values and code of conduct to ensure that adherence with the highest standards of ethics, and compliance with relevant policies, processes and regulations among employees form part of culture.

People & Talent 

• Employ, engage and retain high quality people, with succession planning for critical roles
• Communicate vision of the role of the US & Americas tax function and role-model collaboration across the Tax function.
• Set and monitor job descriptions and objectives for direct reports and provide feedback and rewards in line with their performance against those responsibilities and objectives
• Collaborate with Tax GPO on feedback and development plans for key Tax CoE staff involved in tax reporting and forecasting. 
• Lead through example and build the appropriate culture and values. Set appropriate tone and expectations for their team and work in collaboration with risk and control partners.
• Ensure the provision of ongoing training and development of people, and that holders of critical functions are suitably skilled and qualified for their roles and effective supervision is in place to mitigate risks.
• Employ, engage and retain high quality people, with succession planning for critical roles
• Set and monitor job descriptions and objectives for direct reports and provide feedback and rewards in line with their performance against those responsibilities and objectives including providing support to the teams particularly, where growing a team member into the role or in cases of performance issues.
• Ensure up to date contingency plans are in place.

Additional Responsibilities

Risk Management 

• Control tax risks to ensure that losses (financial or reputational), including any related to the conduct of business matters, do not cause material damage to the SC Group’s franchise.
• Discharge Tax RFO responsibilities for taxes in accordance with the Tax Procedures and implement, monitor and oversee Tax Operational Risk Framework
• Manage US & Americas direct & indirect tax risk within the risk appetite of the Group.
• Manage the internal reporting of tax risk exposures for the Group (gross and net) and provide updates to Risk Committees.
• Support Americas finance teams in reviewing and signing off material corporate income tax returns and indirect tax returns.
• Set strategy for resolving controversy for US & Americas and together with the US & Americas Finance teams to drive any material settlement or litigation matters.
• Manage tax controversy risk including all correspondence from the Tax Authorities and Ensure judgemental decisions regarding material uncertain tax positions in respect of transactions are escalated with an appropriate recommendation.
• Ensure relationships with tax authorities and auditors are managed in a transparent, professional and constructive manner.
• Work with Process Owners to identify, define and monitor new and emerging risks that could impact the data requirements for tax and ensure timely remedial / enhancement actions are taken, particularly elevating the operational tax risk profile from recent OREs.
• Review and counter-sign attestation to support compliance with relevant tax controls.
• Maintain strong capabilities in managing operational risks, including compliance with local and global regulations. E.g. Enterprise Risk Management and other risk frameworks.
• Maintain a risk register and conduct regular risk reviews to ensure proactive management of potential issues. Escalate critical risks to senior management and relevant risk forums.
• Ensure judgemental decisions regarding application of the Group’s Approach to Tax and Tax Policy to transactions are appropriately escalated.

FATCA and US withholding and information reporting 
•    Undertake the country RFO /2nd Line of Defence responsibilities relating to FATCA and US withholding and information reporting requirements
•    Discharge the RFO/ 2nd Line of Defence obligations through engagement with process owners/ 1st Line of Defence on their execution and implementation and periodic risk assessment reviews
•    Provide tax support, review and sign-off the annual information reporting returns of Standard Chartered entities in the US
•    Ensure Group Client tax compliance policies, procedures and standards are effectively implemented and executed for the US for all relevant regulations.
•    Manage and ensure all appropriate client tax compliance advice, training, risk assessment and monitoring is delivered to Group staff for US & Americas.

Tax Reporting & Forecasting
•    Ensure accurate and timely quarterly group tax reporting, tax forecasts of the group’s effective tax rate and other reporting as required for Group reporting purposes including New F.
•    Manage the external and internal tax reporting for the branches and subsidiaries.
•    Compile and report on tax liabilities in compliance with relevant legislation and standards.
•    Ensure tax returns are accurate and submitted to the tax authority in accordance with the statutory timelines.
•    Assist in the overall management of tax risk by ensuring that tax risk is identified, controlled and managed in accordance with SCB Group policy.
•    Review legislative and regulatory changes and ensure that the business is informed of relevant changes.
•    Ensure support is available for any tax representations given to the group’s auditors
•    Ensure quarterly attestation process supporting the Group’s IFRS tax reporting is complete
•    Ensure judgemental tax accounting decisions are adequately documented the tax / Finance team
•    Explain tax rate and related matters to the Global Head of Tax, US CFO, CMT Members, providing analysis, narrative and directional views based on outputs from the Plan and Forecast processes.

Transfer Pricing

• Work closely with the Transfer Pricing team to ensure implementation of appropriate TP methodologies, management of associated risks and promoting general TP awareness to relevant stakeholders in Americas.
• Support in providing Transfer Pricing advice and support for group cost recharges related matters to the network.
• Manage and maintain a governance and control framework in compliance with SCB Group’s Operational Risk Framework for all Transfer Pricing processes.
• Understand the requirements from the country tax and finance teams and manage local country transfer pricing reports and analysis.
• Support Advance Pricing Agreements, Mutual Agreement Procedures, and transfer pricing audits

Regulatory & Business Conduct

• Display exemplary conduct and live by the Group’s Values and Code of Conduct.
• Take personal responsibility for embedding the highest standards of ethics, including regulatory and business conduct, across the Longview estate. This includes understanding and ensuring compliance with, in letter and spirit, all applicable laws, regulations, guidelines and the Group Code of Conduct.
• Lead the team to achieve the outcomes set out in the Bank’s Conduct Principles
• Effectively and collaboratively identify, escalate, mitigate and resolve risk, conduct and compliance matters.
• This role has supervisory responsibilities and therefore the Bank’s supervisory principles must be followed.

Skills and Experience

•    Business Acumen
•    Communication 
•    Corporate Governance
•    Cost-benefit analysis
•    Financial and Accounting systems 
•    Industry knowledge 
•    Internal controls 
•    Operational risk
•    Performance management 
•    Reputational risk
•    Risks and controls
•    Tax Management 
•    Tax Operations (tax accounting)

Qualifications

•    Licensed as a CPA or an attorney with tax accounting experience
•    Minimum of 12 years of experience with international taxation of non-US and US financial institutions (preferably in-bound taxation and US group taxation); 
•    Providing oversight on all US tax accounting/compliance/reporting issues for the US and Americas; 
•    Strong stakeholder management skills, ability to communicate complex tax issues to key stakeholders in a manner that is clear and understandable both orally and in writing;
•    Leadership track record, and collaborating with process teams and creating an effective control environment
•    Skilled at working with tax authorities during the audit process; 
•    Experience in managing and working with a diverse group of tax professionals globally; 
•    Excellent attention to detail and organizational skills; 
•    Work effectively with outside advisors, manage relationships and use resources judiciously and effectively;

About Standard Chartered

We're an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 170 years, we've worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you're looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents and we can't wait to see the talents you can bring us.

Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you'll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion.

Together we:

• Do the right thing and are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do
• Never settle, continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well
• Are better together, we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others, and work collectively to build for the long ter

What we offer

In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.

• Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations.
• Time-off including annual leave, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 months maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum.
• Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns.
• Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and all sorts of self-help toolkits
• A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning.
• Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies - everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential.

Recruitment Assessments

Expected annual base pay range for the role is 225,000 USD to 275,000 USD. The final offer will be determined on an individualised basis using a number of variables, including but not limited to skill set, depth of experience and education, internal relativity, and specific work location. At Standard Chartered Bank, Base pay is only part of the total compensation package. Discretionary variable pay and a range of attractive bank sponsored benefit programs are available and designed to foster employee overall health and well-being including, but not limited to, a best in class 401k plan with up to 8% employer match, robust medical plan coverage with employer funded Health Savings Accounts, inclusive family building benefits, and flexible/hybrid working arrangements for many of our positions subject to role specific considerations.

Some of our roles use assessments to help us understand how suitable you are for the role you've applied to. If you are invited to take an assessment, this is great news. It means your application has progressed to an important stage of our recruitment process.

Visit our careers website www.sc.com/careers