Senior GST Compliance Specialist

🏗 We're Hiring: Senior GST Compliance Specialist

📍 Location: United Arab Emirates (Remote)

🕒 Employment Type: Full-Time

💼 Experience Level: Mid-Level to Senior

🌐 Work Arrangement: Fully Remote

About Us

We are a construction-focused organization committed to delivering complex projects through disciplined contract management, financial transparency, operational excellence, and effective risk management. Our multidisciplinary teams collaborate across Project Management, Construction, Engineering, Procurement, Commercial, Legal, Finance, Human Resources, Design, Quality, HSE, Consultants, Contractors, Suppliers, Logistics, Administration, Information Technology, and Executive Leadership to maintain strong financial controls and support sustainable business operations.

We recognize the importance of accurate indirect tax reporting, compliant transaction processing, and effective tax governance across construction projects and commercial activities. Through robust compliance procedures, reliable financial records, and cross-functional collaboration, we aim to fulfill applicable tax obligations, minimize tax exposure, and maintain transparent relationships with customers, suppliers, contractors, and tax authorities.

The Role

We are seeking an experienced Senior GST Compliance Specialist to oversee Goods and Services Tax (GST) compliance, indirect tax reporting, transaction reviews, and tax risk management across the organization's relevant business operations. The successful candidate will coordinate GST return preparation, review transaction classifications, validate tax calculations, reconcile tax accounts, and maintain supporting documentation in accordance with the GST legislation applicable to the relevant jurisdictions.

The specialist will work closely with Finance, Accounting, Procurement, Commercial, Legal, Project Management, and external tax advisers to assess GST treatment for construction contracts, project expenditure, subcontractor payments, procurement activities, cross-border transactions, and other commercial arrangements. The role will also support tax audits, regulatory inquiries, process improvements, and the implementation of effective controls to strengthen compliance and reporting accuracy.

Note: GST rules differ by jurisdiction. The applicable GST legislation, registration requirements, filing deadlines, and reporting procedures will depend on the countries in which the organization operates. UAE-based operations generally fall under the UAE VAT framework rather than a GST regime.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and coordinate GST compliance activities across relevant entities, business units, and project operations.
• Prepare, review, validate, and coordinate the timely submission of GST returns in accordance with applicable local legislation.
• Ensure GST calculations, transaction classifications, adjustments, and reported amounts are accurate and supported by appropriate documentation.
• Review output GST on sales, customer invoices, progress billings, milestone payments, variation orders, and other revenue transactions.
• Assess input GST claims on supplier invoices, subcontractor costs, professional fees, project expenditure, and operating expenses.
• Verify the correct application of applicable GST rates, exemptions, zero-rating provisions, and other special treatments.
• Review tax codes, transaction classifications, and GST determination rules within accounting and enterprise resource planning systems.
• Ensure GST treatment reflects the nature of each transaction, contractual terms, place-of-supply requirements, and applicable legislation.
• Review tax invoices, purchase invoices, sales invoices, credit notes, debit notes, and other supporting records for compliance.
• Identify missing, invalid, duplicate, or inconsistent tax invoices and coordinate corrective actions with the relevant stakeholders.
• Validate supplier and customer tax registration information and maintain accurate GST-related master data.
• Assess GST implications arising from construction contracts, engineering services, consultancy arrangements, equipment rentals, procurement activities, and subcontracting agreements.
• Review GST treatment for contract variations, retention payments, advance payments, deposits, reimbursements, and changes in contractual consideration.
• Coordinate with Commercial and Project Management teams to determine the appropriate tax treatment of project transactions.
• Review GST treatment for intercompany transactions, management fees, shared services, cost recharges, and related-party arrangements.
• Assess the tax implications of imported goods, imported services, exports, and other cross-border commercial activities.
• Review place-of-supply requirements and determine whether transactions are subject to domestic or cross-border tax rules.
• Coordinate with Procurement, Logistics, and Finance teams to reconcile customs documentation, import declarations, and tax records.
• Review reverse charge obligations for applicable imported services, goods, and other transactions where required.
• Assess input tax recovery eligibility and identify expenditure subject to restrictions, exclusions, or partial recovery.
• Review GST treatment for employee expenses, business travel, entertainment, motor vehicles, and other expenditure governed by specific rules.
• Evaluate mixed-use expenditure and review apportionment methodologies where applicable.
• Review tax adjustments arising from credit notes, cancellations, discounts, refunds, bad debts, and changes in consideration.
• Monitor the tax implications of business restructuring, asset transfers, acquisitions, disposals, and changes in operating arrangements.
• Reconcile GST control accounts, input tax, output tax, tax payable, tax receivable, and relevant general ledger balances.
• Perform detailed reconciliations between GST returns, trial balances, sales registers, purchase registers, and supporting financial records.
• Investigate discrepancies between accounting entries, transaction reports, tax calculations, and filed returns.
• Coordinate with Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, General Ledger, Treasury, and project finance teams to resolve tax-related differences.
• Review GST-related journal entries and adjustments to ensure they are properly calculated, authorized, and documented.
• Maintain detailed tax reconciliation schedules, supporting calculations, review notes, and audit trails.
• Monitor filing calendars, payment deadlines, refund applications, registration obligations, and other statutory compliance milestones.
• Coordinate GST payments and refund claims with Finance and Treasury teams, ensuring all required supporting evidence is available.
• Support tax registration, deregistration, and changes to registration details where applicable.
• Monitor relevant GST legislation, regulations, tax authority guidance, public rulings, and administrative updates in applicable jurisdictions.
• Evaluate the impact of regulatory changes on tax procedures, accounting systems, commercial contracts, and reporting practices.
• Recommend updates to GST policies, procedures, tax codes, documentation standards, and internal controls when requirements change.
• Maintain awareness of applicable invoicing, recordkeeping, reporting, registration, and tax payment obligations.
• Review transactions involving special economic zones, free zones, bonded warehouses, or similar arrangements where specific tax rules may apply.
• Ensure special tax treatments are supported by applicable legal conditions and appropriate evidence.
• Review contractual tax clauses, tax indemnities, tax-inclusive pricing, gross-up provisions, and other relevant commercial terms.
• Collaborate with Legal and Commercial teams to identify potential GST exposure in contracts and recommend appropriate treatment.
• Provide practical GST guidance to Finance, Procurement, Commercial, Project Management, and other operational stakeholders.
• Investigate complex indirect tax questions and document the rationale for recommended tax positions.
• Escalate material tax uncertainties, potential compliance breaches, and significant financial exposures to senior Finance, Tax, or Legal personnel.
• Prepare tax position papers, technical memoranda, internal guidance notes, and management reports on significant GST matters.
• Maintain a centralized repository of GST returns, reconciliations, tax invoices, contracts, customs records, and other supporting evidence.
• Ensure GST documentation is complete, accurate, securely maintained, and readily retrievable for authorized review.
• Establish standardized GST checklists, review procedures, reporting templates, and documentation requirements.
• Support internal audits, external audits, tax reviews, and regulatory examinations involving GST compliance.
• Prepare audit schedules, transaction samples, reconciliation files, tax calculations, and supporting documentation for auditors and tax authorities.
• Coordinate responses to tax authority inquiries, information requests, assessments, and other formal communications through authorized channels.