Trust & Taxation Assistant

Shoosmiths - UK Law Firm of the Year Winner at the Legal Week British Legal Awards 2015.

A leading UK law firm with a network of offices from the South Coast to Scotland, working together as one national team. An innovative practice and the first top 100 law firm to achieve “Gold Standard” Investors in People, our values and culture are not just words on our website but are the heartbeat of the firm. The lack of barriers between departments, a real lack of hierarchy, zero tolerance for arrogance and pomposity makes Shoosmiths a fantastic place to work.

Our specialist Private Client team is experienced in managing and implementing the strategies required to safeguard our clients' personal wealth and business assets. They are renowned for providing the specialist knowledge needed for even the most sensitive of cases. Our expertise ranges from wills, estate planning and probate matters, inheritance tax and succession planning to legal advice concerning mental capacity issues, dealing with the Court of Protection and charity law matters. In your private affairs doubtless you expect solutions that combine expertise, diligence and imagination to protect your assets and safeguard your wealth.

Thoughtful and informed planning as well as professionally executed strategies are the hallmarks of the service provided by Shoosmiths' Wealth Protection Team. Their proven expertise in protecting assets and safeguarding wealth for high net worth private individuals ranges from advising salaried professionals and high profile business leaders to stars of stage and screen and National Lottery winners.

We are seeking a Trust & Taxation Assistant to join our Wealth Protection Team in Nottingham. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone looking to move into trusts and estates taxation as training will be provided. 

• Assisting with day to day administration of trusts, including:
  • Accurately inputting data
  • Preparation of annual trust accounts
  • Preparation of annual trust tax returns
  • Reconciling funds held on account
  • Dealing with HM Revenue & Customs
  • Dealing with trustees and beneficiaries
  • Liaison with financial advisors
  • Dealing with payment of distributions to beneficiaries
  • Completion of inheritance tax returns
  • Maintaining diary of key dates and taking appropriate action

• Assisting with preparation of personal tax returns, including:
  • Tax returns for beneficiaries
  • Tax returns for Court of Protection cases

• Assisting with estate administration, including:
  • Finalising tax position to date of death with HM Revenue & Customs
  • Preparation of estate tax returns
  • Assistance with preparation of estate accounts

Essential:

• Numerate and literate
• Use of Word & Excel
• Good attention to detail
• Good communication skills
• Able to work unsupervised
• Able to work to deadlines
• Able to work to own initiative
• Eager to learn about trust and estate taxation

Desirable:

• Experience completing personal tax returns
• Experience completing trust tax returns
• Experience completing estate tax returns
• Experience completing trust accounts
• Experience completing estate accounts
• Use of CCH Central
• Use of CCH Estate Accounts

Benefits package 

Shoosmiths has an outstanding benefits package; we believe that all staff should be rewarded for their commitment to the continued success of the firm. These include:

• A pension scheme with employer contributions of up to 5.5%
• Generous life assurance cover for peace of mind, up to 8 times salary
• Up to 23 paid working days holiday per annum with the option to buy up to 8 additional days. You can choose to 'flex' twice a year - January and July
• 'Happy Birthday!' - have a free day off to celebrate and a £50 voucher to spend! (We won't take it from your annual entitlement)
• Childcare vouchers which are not subject to tax or NI
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Staff introduction bonus scheme
• Corporate discounts on a wide variety of products and services
• Discounted conveyancing and legal advice, for instance for wills and family trusts

If you'd like to enquire about the salary, please feel free to get in touch with me via matthew.mercer@shoosmiths.co.uk or 03700 863 267.

The application process

We will aim to respond to you within 3-4 working days following your application. If successful, you will be contacted by a member of our recruitment team for an informal telephone discussion. There will be one interview stage which will be held at our Nottingham office.

Interested but have further questions? Get in touch with me directly via email (matthew.mercer@shoosmiths.co.uk), phone (03700 863 267) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-mercer-91811a25).

Shoosmiths is a committed Equal Opportunities employer promoting equality of opportunity. This means that everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, whatever their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, disability, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.