ABOUT THE ROLE:

We are looking for a Chartered Accountant with sharp technical depth and a strong ownership mindset to join our client's Group Tax team. You will be the end-to-end owner of direct tax across assigned entities - handling compliance, litigation, and business advisory.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Compliance & Reporting:

- Ensure completeness and accuracy across all direct tax compliance - TDS compliance (payments, returns and certificates), tax audit, income-tax computations, ITR filing, advance tax, SFT and any other applicable regulatory filings.

- Prepare tax provisions and deferred tax workings (Ind AS 12); maintain books to tax reconciliations (TDS payments & 26AS) and support statutory audit with schedules and responses.

- Proactively monitor/ identify tax exposure/ tax optimisation strategies, potential implications, and keep abreast with all tax and regulatory amendments, relevant case laws and provide internal updates on impacted businesses.

2. Litigation:

- Own the full litigation lifecycle - drafting replies to routine notices and assessment notices, representation before tax officer for faceless assessments/ appeals, research on tax position, briefing to lawyers/ counsels on tax matters etc.

- Maintain a structured litigation tracker with demand positions, hearing schedules, and provisioning requirements; present material exposures to senior management.

3. Business Advisory:

- Serve as the go-to direct tax advisor for business and finance teams - reviewing contracts, new transactions, and structures; providing prompt, practical opinions on withholding, DTAA positions, and tax characterisation.

- Support M&A, investment, and treasury functions on deal structuring, capital gains, buybacks, ESOPs, inter-company arrangements, and cross-border payment obligations - on need basis.

Qualifications & Experience:

- Chartered Accountant (CA) with 4 to 7 years of post-qualification experience exclusively in direct tax, in a large listed company or a Big 4 / reputed CA firm handling large corporate clients.

- Solid hands-on exposure across compliance, litigation, and advisory.

- Kindly note that mixed or non-direct-tax profiles need not apply.

Technical Skills:

- Deep working knowledge of the Income Tax Act, DTAA provisions, TDS regime, and Ind AS 12 tax accounting.

- Advanced MS Excel - comfortable handling and modelling large datasets; Power Query and macros are a plus.

- Confident user of the income-tax portal, TRACES, and TIN 2.0; actively leverages AI tools to automate research, drafting, and repetitive tasks.

Mindset & Approach:

- Problem solver who diagnoses issues at the root and resolves them structurally - not just patches symptoms.

- High ownership: manages the direct tax function for assigned entities independently; escalates only when genuinely necessary.

- Strong communicator - able to present tax positions clearly to management, business heads, and external advisors.

- Keeps pace with judicial developments, CBDT circulars, and amendments; applies them proactively in day-to-day work.