Client Investment Tax Lead

A leading financial services firm is seeking a highly analytical and detail-oriented Client Investment Tax Lead to drive data integrity, tax reporting accuracy, and compliance across multiple investment platforms. This role plays a key part in designing and executing data quality controls and ensuring timely and accurate tax submissions across both in-house and outsourced platforms.

Key Responsibilities :

Client and Product Tax Oversight :

Support the Operations and Tax teams in ensuring accurate client tax reporting, including IT3 reporting, withholding tax, PAYE, and life company five-fund tax.

Develop and execute comprehensive test plans for tax reports such as :

IT3(b), IT3(c)

IRP5 and IT3(a) (payroll-related)

Conduct continuous monitoring of data for quality issues, escalating and driving remediation within operational teams.

Review business rules, forms, and system inputs to ensure alignment with tax reporting requirements.

Oversee and test PAYE calculations and payroll submissions for Living Annuity income.

Validate SARS directive deductions and ensure proper payroll reporting.

Review and test :

Capital gains / losses calculations

Complex corporate actions

False disposal cases (e.g., fund class switches, transfers)

Fund income distributions and dividends

Endowment and Sinking Fund Tax Reviews :

Oversee tax deduction calculations for share portfolios (PSPs) in endowment structures.

Review and test capital gains tax calculations and end-of-year adjustments.

Assist in testing system changes impacting client and five-fund tax.

Offshore Platform Tax Compliance (PWP) :

Manage IRS Qualified Intermediary (QI) compliance including :

1042, 1042-S, and 1099 filings

Withholding tax testing and validation

Data collation and submissions (in collaboration with Guernsey)

FATCA & CRS Compliance :

Develop and implement a FATCA / CRS data testing programme.

Identify and remediate data issues with operations teams.

Submit accurate FATCA / CRS reports to SARS and Guernsey (via IGOR system).

Requirements : Qualifications :

BCom Accounting or equivalent.

HDip Tax or Postgraduate Tax qualification.

Experience & Competencies :

Solid understanding of financial products, including :

LISP products : discretionary investments, RAs, living annuities, preservation funds, TFSA, endowment policies

Financial instruments : unit trusts, ETFs, direct shares

Strong knowledge of tax regulations and accounting principles

Experience in tax reporting (IT3, PAYE, FATCA, CRS, IRS QI)

Proficient in data analysis and testing :

SQL and advanced Excel

Able to design test scenarios, identify anomalies, and resolve data issues

Experience with outsourced platforms (e.g., Peresec) and international filings is a plus