Financial Corporate Tax Specialist

Why you’ll love this role

The Corporate Tax Specialist will work with the Director, Tax and Manager, Corporate Tax to support the tax function at Empire Life. The role is very diverse and will provide the Corporate Tax Specialist with exposure to and experience with various sales/commodity tax filings, premium tax filings, corporate income tax filings, trust return filings and other compliance-related filings of Empire Life and affiliated entities within the Empire Life group. In addition to tax compliance activities, the Corporate Tax Specialist is required to conduct tax research on a variety of tax topics, assess impacts of taxation changes and act as a key tax consultant to other corporate functional areas and business units. This will allow the Corporate Tax Specialist to continue to expand their tax knowledge and tax research skills while also staying current on changes to tax legislation.

The Tax group at Empire Life is part of the broader Corporate Finance function and currently consists of 15 individuals with oversight from the VP, Tax and Investment Finance. Part of the team is focused on policy and product taxation, another part of the team is focused on corporate tax. The Tax group works together and with other business units and departments on a number of different activities, projects and filings throughout the year.

This exciting role will provide the incumbent with the opportunity to demonstrate their tax knowledge and experience, provide value-added contributions to Company tax positions, filings and strategic initiatives and continue to gain knowledge and experience in the insurance and financial services industries.

**What you’ll be working on**:

- Prepares and contributes to the preparation of various corporate income tax, premium tax, sales/commodity tax filings and related reports and supporting working papers.
- Prepare and review the annual segregated fund and mutual fund trust returns.
- Performs tax accounting activities, including the preparation, completion and/or review of income tax provisions, journal entries, account reconciliations, etc.
- Acts as a tax consultant; provides internal taxation advice, guidance, recommendations and solutions on complex tax issues to members of corporate and business unit management on corporate and policyholder tax issues.
- Researches, develops, proposes and coordinates tax advantageous strategies to minimize tax risks and maximize tax benefits.
- Performs tax planning; assesses and determines the impact and implication of existing, new and proposed legislation, regulations and rulings on the organization’s activities and products.
- Provides guidance and/or input on how to integrate tax changes into the Company’s systems and procedures. Provides support on the implementation of system changes.
- Review and identify areas of improvement in policies and procedures to ensure they are consistent and compliant with tax legislation, regulatory requirements and industry practices.
- Implements compliance standards for internal controls on tax related matters and ensures their ongoing effectiveness.
- Participates in the negotiation of Company tax positions with tax authorities.
- Represents the Company on industry committees and in negotiations with government authorities.
- Maintains on-going contact with peers at other companies to remain current with competitors’ tax strategies and processes, and knowledge of taxation trends within the industry.
- Participates in the setting of departmental objectives and priorities.
- Provides coaching and mentoring on tax-related issues to other Tax department members.
- Other duties as assigned.

**What you’ll need to have**:

- 7+ years of experience with Canadian corporate tax.
- Experience with insurance and/or investment fund taxation. Excellent knowledge of Federal and Provincial Income Taxes, Premium Taxes, Provincial Sales Taxes and the Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Taxes.
- Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) designation.
- Completion of the CPA In-Depth Tax Program (2 or 3 year program).
- Knowledge of insurance and wealth products including Universal Life, Whole Life, Term Life, Annuities, Segregated Funds and Mutual Funds is an asset.
- Knowledge of taxation on the purchase, sale and issuance of corporate investments (e.g., stocks, bonds, preferred shares, derivatives, trust units).
- Experience conducting tax research and writing memos / position papers.
- Experience investigating, analyzing and resolving complex tax and accounting matters.
- Demonstrated ability to learn accounting systems. Knowledge of Microsoft Dynamics AX is an asset.
- Process management / ownership experience.
- Supervisory / people management experience is an asset.
- Ability to work and drive desired outcomes with mínimal supervision and oversight.
- Ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks.
- Effective oral and written communication.
- Key competencies include initiative, judgment, an