HMRC Flashcards
(23 cards)
Tell me about a time that you demonstrated strong organisational skills
S: I have 2 part-time jobs alongside uni so have had to develop strong organisational skills to balance this e.g. work cover, uni deadline, unexpected other deadline.
T: had to ensure both deadlines met with limited time.
A: prioritised, artificial deadlines, anticipated problem so prepped.
R: Met both deadlines whilst covering work.
L: skills highly applicable to tax, specialists will need high organisational skills in order to successfully manage multiple priorities to strict deadlines for reports and casework.
Tell me about a time that you improved your productivity
S: as a philosophy undergrad, wrote a lot of essays, but took me longer to write than ideal.
T: assessing cause.
A: realised i was attempting too much, narrowed focus for future essays.
R: halved time it took to write essays, but grades also improved, as narrowed focus = more depth.
L: highly applicable to job as studying for exams alongside work, look to learn as efficiently as possible using flashcards on commute. also engrained in long term memory.
Tell me about a time that you demonstrated strong teamwork skills
S: events organiser for Phil society last year
T: needed a lot of teamwork with committee to manage society effectively.
A: focused on shared goals, rotated presenting and prep responsibilities, supported each other when one was ill or struggling in a particular role, worked together to resolve disagreements, all networked with members to find out what they enjoyed and wanted and exchanged ideas with each other, allowing us to create a personalised events schedule for group.
R: most successful Philosophy society in years.
L: teamwork aspect is something that particularly excites me about tax, as I find I learn so much quicker and can help others by exchanging ideas with trainees and experts.
Tell me about a time that you demonstrated strong adaptability
S: I work at restaurant, constantly changing environment, changing my role depending on other staff to cover their weaknesses, short-staffed then chef unexpectedly taken ill.
T: orders still to fulfil
A: trained in kitchen, me & colleague went through orders identifying which I could prepare, apologised to customers and got replacement orders. then we worked together to prepare drinks, then shifted into kitchen, I as main chef, him as helper when necessary (e.g. to put rice into bowls.
R: customers got their food, avoided worst case scenario.
L: adaptabllity is something that really excites me about tax, as I really enjoy self-improvement and opportunities to adapt to different areas of tax law will allow me to grow as a tax specialist as quickly as possible
Tell me about a time that you demonstrated strong analytical skills
S: philosophy student, primary training is in analysing arguments for problems and solutions. Had a uni assignment on a particular problem in ethics.
T: My job was to explain it and significance. Problem was hard to pin down.
A: Rather than skimming over ambiguities, made that the focus of essay. Explored each possible interpretation of problem, showing at each stage why it didn’t fully capture intuition behind problem. Concluded that might not be self-standing problem at all.
R: professor loved it, scored realistically highest possible mark.
L: Analytical side is something that really excites me about tax, look to take a rigorous and precise approach to identifying inconsistencies and finding solutions to cases which might involve highly nuanced tax laws (e.g. IR35 legislation).
Tell me about a time that you demonstrated strong communication skills
S: philosophy student, often assessments to test our ability to communicate with a non-philosophical audience e.g. recently gave presentation on topic in epistemology
T: had to make it accessible to those who didn’t know anything about topic or philosophy
A: Minimised jargon, explained any I did, carefully spelled out every step in an argument, used geometric depictions of theories, asked for questions.
R: students more engaged in rest of seminar, lecturer asked to use my slides.
L: confident i’ll be able to convey complex tax laws to clients in simple terms
What are your biggest motivators?
- helping others.
- self-improvement
Why do you want to work in tax?
Because it’s an area I’m interested in and feel it’s strongly aligned with my motivators of helping others and self-improvement.
Why is tax aligned with your motivator of helping others?
by helping tax payers who have previously failed to comply with tax payment and filing obligations get on the right path, I’d feel like I’d not only be helping them, but also the wider tax-paying public by ensuring fairness and equality in the tax system, and also by helping to fund public services. feel like I’d be making a meaningful contribution to society.
Why is tax aligned with your motivator of self-improvement?
self-improvement: tax laws and regulations are intricate and constantly evolving (changes to employer NI, abolishment of non-dom), so staying updated requires continuous learning and development.
Why do you value integrity? Tell me about a time you have demonstrated integrity.
a big motivator for me is helping others, which you can’t do if you’re dishonest with them.
L: look to take similar approach in tax, since integrity is crucial there, to ensure transparency and equality for all tax paying public.
S: Volunteered at charity shop
T: noticed that volunteer used gift aid codes on other donations to increase shop’s revenue.
A: reported to manager, who swiftly dealt with problem.
R: further fraud avoided, made me appreciate how challenging HMRCs job is, given how hard that would be to discover.
What do you know about the tax specialist role at HMRC?
- 3-4 year programme
- learn first hand from experienced professionals
to tackle complex tax issues like fraud investigation & offshore evasion - work with a wide range of businesses, from sole traders all the way up to multinational corporations
- build your knowledge through personal study, tutorials, mentorship and assignments
- initially a lot of learning about different areas of tax
- in second stage, join a permanent team and develop expertise in particular tax regime
- interested in fraud investigation service (tackles most serious fraud and financial crime) (witnessed minor fraud in charity sector in past)
What is HMRC?
UK’s tax, payments and customs authority
What is HMRC’s purpose?
collect the money that pays for the UK’s public services, and help families and individuals with targeted financial support.
What taxes does HMRC oversee (try to name 5)?
Income Tax, Corporation Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax, Insurance Premium Tax, Stamp, Land and Petroleum Revenue Taxes
environmental taxes
climate change and aggregates levy and landfill tax
Value Added Tax (VAT), including import VAT
customs duty
excise duties
trade statistics
National Insurance
tax credits
Child Benefit
enforcement of the National Minimum Wage
recovery of Student Loan repayments
anti-money laundering supervision
What do you know about HMRC
- what it is
- what it’s purpose is.
- some taxes it oversees.
state the four civil service values
- integrity
- honesty
- objectivity
- impartiality
define integrity
‘integrity’ is putting the obligations of public service above your own personal interests
define honesty
‘honesty’ is being truthful and open
define objectivity
‘objectivity’ is basing your advice and decisions on rigorous analysis of the evidence
define impartiality
‘impartiality’ is acting solely according to the merits of the case and serving equally well governments of different political persuasions
What acronym for ‘What is HMRC’?
TCP
State some teams you could specialise in as a tax specialist
- fraud investigation service
- large business
- wealthy and mid-sized business directorate directorate
- Individuals and Small Business Compliance directorate
