Senior Tax Advisor – Tax Department - Durban, South Africa

Bowmans; Durban; On-site; ZAR 200,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading legal firm in South Africa seeks a Senior Tax Advisor in Durban. The successful candidate will assist clients on tax matters, prepare tax returns, and provide legal opinions. Ideal candidates will have significant experience in tax practice along with a strong academic background in accounting and taxation. The position offers opportunities for impactful work in a highly collaborative team environment.

Qualifications

• 5-7 years post articles experience within a tax practice.
• Ability to manage tax-related draughting support.
• Experience in tax dispute resolution.

Responsibilities

• Provide assistance to clients on various tax matters.
• Furnish legal opinions and conduct research.
• Prepare and review corporate tax returns.

Skills

Chartered Accountant (SA)

Corporate tax expertise

Multidisciplinary tax experience

Strong critical reasoning

Effective communication

Education

BCom (Accounting)

Postgraduate diploma in taxation

Tools

Excel

PowerPoint

Word

Outlook

Job description

Overview

Job title: Senior Tax Advisor – Tax Department - Durban, South Africa

Job Location: KwaZulu-Natal, Durban

Deadline: October 26, 2025

Experience and Qualifications

• Preferably a Chartered Accountant (SA), with post articles experience within a tax practice or BCom (Accounting), with 5-7 years post articles experience within a tax practice
• Corporate, compliance and tax dispute resolution experience
• Multi-disciplinary tax experience, international tax experience and deferred tax experience would be an advantage
• High academic achiever, with numeracy and language skills
• Post graduate diploma or degree in taxation is a requirement

Job Accountabilities

• Working as part of a team providing assistance to clients on a variety of matters within a specialised tax practice
• Furnishing legal opinions and advice for clients on various tax issues, including legal and tax research
• Providing advice and assistance with tax disputes
• Providing tax related input on transaction structures, including in a cross-border context
• Providing tax related drafting support and commentary on legal documents
• Performing or reviewing tax calculations
• Preparing or reviewing corporate tax returns

Personal Attributes

Initiative, Enthusiasm, and Optimism

• Acting without prompting but aware of risks
• Takes action to achieve goals beyond what is required
• Optimistic in handling challenges and setting out for the best outcomes
• Genuinely engage with clients and colleagues in an enthusiastic manner
• Taking responsibility in all matters in which you are involved
• Taking pride in excellence of work done

Perseverance and Resilience

• Ability to work well under pressure without compromising work quality or standards.
• Ability to move past obstacles to achieve end results in an efficient and professional manner.
• Ability to recover quickly from setbacks.

Results driven

• Uncompromising attitude to service delivery.
• Delivery of results even under heavy pressure.
• Ability to handle high volumes as well as meet deadlines, with the view to adding value to the business by delivering the required results.

Team player

• Working together with colleagues and staff to enhance the team’s overall performance
• Leveraging off team synergies and to ensure a productive, efficient and caring work environment

Ethical

• Displays honesty and integrity at all times

Client Focus

• Dedicated to understanding and meeting the expectations and requirements of clients.
• Obtains the necessary information from clients and utilises the information for the delivery of service to the client.
• Establishes and maintains effective relationships with clients.

Work Standards

• Sets high goals or standards of performance for self, producing work timeously, accurately and of a consistently high standard.
• Able to work according to a fee budget.

Planning and organizing

• Set priorities, manage schedules and plan accordingly in a constantly pressurised environment.

Other Skills

Legal Technical skills

• Possesses the legal technical skill to research, interpret and argue legal points, in order to deliver excellent tax opinions, transaction structures and legal documents.
• Strong critical reasoning
• Ability to apply theory in a practical and commercially astute manner

Business and financial skills

• Possesses the necessary commercial understanding of client requirements in order to deliver excellent client service
• Ability to utilise information from financial statements or other accounting records, within the context of tax opinions or tax due diligences (on-the-job training will be provided to enhance these skills)

Communication

• Able to communicate effectively and express ideas clearly
• Ability to argue persuasively
• Produce documents that have appropriate organisation and structure, correct grammar and language, and which are easy to understand.

Computer Literacy

• Proficiency in all relevant computer software, including Word and Outlook.
• Proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint is a requirement
• Accounting / Financial Services jobs