Job Detail

Zurich, ZH, CH

Swiss Indirect Tax Manager 

About Swiss Re

The Swiss Re Group is one of the world’s leading providers of reinsurance, insurance and other forms of insurance-based risk transfer, working to make the world more resilient. It anticipates and manages risk – from natural catastrophes to climate change, from ageing populations to cyber crime. The Swiss Re Group is organised into three Business Units, each with a distinct strategy and set of objectives contributing to the Group’s overall mission.

About the Role

The candidate will be a member of Group Tax, specifically reporting to the Head of EMEA and Indirect Tax, and be part of that team. The candidate will work closely with the DACH tax team (Switzerland, Germany and Liechtenstein), Group Tax Operations team, Transfer Pricing team, Finance, and other colleagues across the Swiss Re Group, especially within Switzerland.

The role

• Responsible for delivery of all Swiss indirect tax services including advice, policies, planning, training and strategies and provide ad-hoc support where required on other Indirect Tax projects.  This includes Swiss VAT, Stamp taxes (Swiss Securities Transfer Tax, Stamp Duty and IPT.)


• Support the indirect tax team to ensure work is organised and undertaken effectively and efficiently


• Support the Head of DACH Tax for Swiss Corporate Income  Taxes  with responsibility for select carriers constituting:

- Quarterly US GAAP Reporting

- Management of corporate income tax compliance and tax audits

- Tax advice to the business

• Identify and implement indirect tax optimisation opportunities


• Assess new legislation and case law for applicability to the Swiss Re Group and communicate changes and related potential impacts to the business


• Communicate key indirect and direct tax issues clearly and concisely to non-tax specialists


• Identify and evaluate key indirect tax risks within the Group, ensuring effective risk management processes are operated and reported


• Ensure compliance procedures are cost effective and appropriate to meet the Group's indirect tax compliance requirements especially within Switzerland


• Manage the Swiss indirect tax impact for international business development, and provide advice on large transactions, strategic projects, and indirect tax aspects of intercompany and 3rd party contracts


• Manage or otherwise support tax audits and investigations by tax authorities


• Act as first point of contact and manage query resolution for all Swiss indirect tax matters, identifying training requirements and delivering training to the wider team and business where required

About the Team

The role is within the Indirect Tax team. Indirect Tax team provides indirect tax support to the Swiss Re Group of companies; it provides advice and guidance on day-to-day queries and offers more complex VAT advice and analysis to support specific transactions and projects. Additionally, it manages European and Canadian VAT compliance and leads project and advisory work for global VAT matters.

Additionally the role will work considerably with the DACH Tax team.  The DACH Tax Team is located in Zurich and Germany and is responsible for all Swiss, German and Liechtenstein direct tax matters. The team provides advice and guidance on day-to-day basis and in specific transactions and strategic projects.

About You

• 5 to 8 years of work experience (preferably in Big4 or financial industry) of relevant indirect tax advisory and compliance experience in practice or within the tax team of a global financial services company


• Tax or accounting qualified


• Self-starter


• Experienced in providing VAT support on Swiss and preferably international GST/VAT issues


• Experienced in indirect tax compliance and reviewing indirect tax returns


• Strong Excel and system skills


• Understanding of controls and processes and able to make and implement changes


• Fluency in German and English.


• Ability to research indirect tax laws and make recommendations to ensure full tax compliance and optimize recoveries


• Ability to communicate confidently and effectively with business partners, tax colleagues, tax authorities and auditors


• Ability to plan and organise own and team workload

- Proactive

- Good team player

- Ability to work to deadlines

- Willingness to take on new challenges 

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