Cross-Border Tax and Estate Planning Specialist, Wealth Management Taxation

Requisition ID: 241804

Join a purpose driven winning team, committed to results, in an inclusive and high-performing culture.

Job Purpose:

The Cross-Border Tax and Estate Planning Specialist, Wealth Management Taxation plays a key role in supporting wealth advisors, planning specialists, and banking partners across Scotia Wealth Management by providing cross-border tax and estate planning expertise and enhancing the delivery of the Total Wealth offering.

Key Accountabilities:

Enhance the delivery of the Total Wealth offering through the integration of advanced tax planning expertise by:

• Collaborating with a team of advanced planning specialists to provide tax and estate planning strategies to complex high net worth (HNW) and ultra-high net worth (UHNW) clients as part of a holistic wealth planning process that clients may then consider and implement with their own tax and legal advisors;
• Consulting and discussing with advisors and their HNW and UHNW clients pointed tax information and guidance highlighting options regarding tax, trust and estate, intergenerational wealth transfer, business transition and succession, insurance, philanthropy, and education planning strategies to consider, which may then be implemented with their own tax and legal advisors;
• Occasionally participating in business development activities and prospective client meetings;
• Capturing and socializing success stories connected to client engagements;
• Writing, developing, and reviewing cross-border tax and estate planning thought leadership and article content for publication to be used by advisors, banking partners, clients, and prospects; and
• Continuously identifying opportunities to enhance the Advanced Planning and Services and the Wealth Management Taxation teams’ service offerings.

Requirements:

• Excellent verbal and written communication and presentation skills with the ability to adapt communication style based on audience, taking complex technical tax and legal concepts and communicating them in plain language when necessary;
• Strong inclination towards strategic competencies – thinking, relationships, and influencing – that will support the ability to be innovative and evolve the Advanced Planning and Services offering;
• The incumbent must be well suited to working independently and within a team environment; and
• Some national travel will be required to attend internal meetings in support of the business as well as attend conferences.

The position requires a high degree of specialized knowledge and experience. The incumbent must be highly conversant on a variety of tax and estate planning topics, including:

• In-depth experience in Canada-U.S. cross border tax planning and compliance;
  
• Demonstrating a robust comprehension of the tax rules that apply to Canada-U.S. cross border scenarios, as well as the practical application of tax knowledge relevant to individuals who are dual citizens residing in Canada, Canadians frequently traveling to the U.S., Canadians owning U.S. assets, Canadians with U.S. beneficiaries, and individuals imm(em)igrating to/from the U.S. These concepts encompass a wide range of topics, including:
  
  o U.S. income, estate, and gift tax implications;
  o Life insurance planning for individuals who are either U.S. persons and/or have U.S. beneficiaries;
  o Intergenerational wealth transfer involving estate and trust planning for U.S. persons;
  
  
• Federal and provincial/territorial income tax law pertaining to individuals, trusts, and private corporations;
• Taxation of Canadian Controlled Private Corporations (CCPCs) and their shareholders, and related planning issues such as business transition and succession, corporate reorganizations, intergenerational wealth transfer, and various corporate transactions;
• Tax issues related to individuals, estates and trusts, and applicable planning;
• Tax strategies involving the use of life insurance for individuals and their private corporations;
• Tax strategies related to philanthropy, leveraging, and education planning;
• Uses and issues related to legal documents, such as wills, power of attorneys, trust agreements, shareholder agreements, franchise agreements, etc.; and
• The ability to read and interpret financial statements and personal, trust, and corporate income tax and information returns.
  
  

The ideal candidate must have the following:

• University degree;
• Professional designation (e.g., CPA, LLB/JD);
• CPA Canada In-Depth Tax Program or MTax degree; and
• In-depth experience in Canada-U.S. cross border taxation; and
• At least 7 years of experience in a professional organization providing cross-border tax and estate planning and compliance for HNW and UHNW clients.

It is preferable that the ideal candidate have the following:

• Other professional designations (e.g., TEP, CFP, CLU);
• In-Depth Tax Issues for the Owner-Managed Business course;
• Solid understanding of financial products and services they are helping advisors to support; and
• Solid knowledge of marketplace and competitive practices