Working in Tax

The Domestic and International Outbound (DIO) team is the largest tax group in our tax practice. We provide a broad range of services to a diverse client base, including Irish PLCs, multinational companies, family businesses, trusts, large privately-owned organisations, partnerships and high-net-worth individuals. We help clients optimise their tax strategy and understand the impact of tax policy and legislative changes on their business. Working in DIO offers an exciting opportunity to immerse yourself in various tax areas, experience diverse issues and build relationships with numerous client types. Our people can also travel to meet key stakeholders, connect with PwC colleagues and participate in PwC’s European training events.

Our Financial Services Tax practice works with clients in aviation finance, banking and treasury operations, insurance, asset and wealth management, and more. We help clients manage the tax consequences of their strategic, commercial and day-to-day activities.

• Asset and Wealth Management (AWM): As the largest Big Four firm with a dedicated AWM team, PwC has unparalleled experience servicing the asset management industry. Within the core AWM group, we help clients structure their Irish and international funds and advise on foreign withholding tax, capital gains tax exposures and international investor reporting requirements. Our Alternative Asset Management team focuses on clients with interests in hedge funds, private equity, private debt and infrastructure. Our Real Estate team, part of the AWM team, analyses the tax implications of property deals and transactions.
• Aviation Finance: We support aircraft leasing clients with international transactions by providing local expertise and working closely with our colleagues across PwC’s global network. Our global aviation finance network, led from Dublin, has dedicated specialists in over 120 countries, offering local knowledge from a single point of contact in Dublin.
• Banking and Insurance: We provide innovative solutions to the banking and insurance industries and assist with domestic and cross-border mergers and transactions. Our banking and capital markets clients range from domestic to global institutions, including the growing tech-focused banking sector (fintech). Across the Financial Services Tax practice, we support clients in navigating the international tax landscape while providing vendor and buy-side M&A due diligence.

Our Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) team is Ireland’s largest and leading dedicated international tax practice. We advise international groups, from early-stage start-ups to mature multinational entities, investing in and through Ireland. We help these organisations optimise their global tax strategy, understand the impact of tax policy and legislative changes, and manage the corporate lifecycle and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity.

While we specialise in Irish tax, most of our clients are headquartered abroad, including technology firms in Silicon Valley and pharmaceutical/medtech companies in Boston’s life sciences hub. This provides numerous opportunities to travel, meet key client stakeholders, participate in PwC’s European training events, and embark on international secondments.

PwC’s Indirect Tax team advises domestic and global clients across all sectors on VAT, customs, excise and trade issues. Our client base spans digital, pharmaceutical, retail, asset management, banking, aviation, construction and real estate sectors. Our team invests in technology solutions to enhance our services and provide the best experience for our clients and team.

VAT: As VAT is now a global tax, our clients expect us to have a global perspective and advise them on their indirect tax footprint. This provides opportunities to work with a global network of contacts, travel for client meetings, participate in PwC training events and, for some, embark on international secondments to cities like London, Sydney and San Francisco. We also work closely with an extensive portfolio of clients based in Ireland. We offer short-term secondments as in-house VAT managers to gain insights into our clients’ businesses and build relationships with key stakeholders.

Global Trade and Customs: Global trade and customs expertise is in high demand, and our team is the country’s largest dedicated team of specialists. We help clients efficiently manage the import and export of goods and cross-border supply of intangibles (sometimes on a seconded basis). We also advise on excise duties and emerging indirect taxes in the ESG space.

Our Research and Development (R&D) team is the leading provider of R&D tax credit services to technology and engineering companies in Ireland. Our diverse team includes professionals with backgrounds in electronic and mechanical engineering, pharmaceutical, chemical and computer science, and tax and accounting advisors.

We assist large global technology, pharmaceutical and engineering companies with their R&D credit claims, prepare R&D reports, and review client accounts and financial information for R&D tax credit claims. Our work offers excellent opportunities to visit leading companies in these sectors and build strong client relationships through office-based and on-site work.

In recent years, Revenue has increased resources devoted to audits and enhanced its risk profiling capabilities, adopting a more data-driven approach to identify non-compliance. As a result, Revenue interventions are becoming more onerous, data requests more granular, and disputes more frequent.

Our Tax Risk and Controversy team helps clients manage their interactions with Revenue and the Tax Appeal Commission, mitigating monetary and reputational risks. Our team, the largest of its kind in Ireland, provides experience in the following areas:

• Revenue interventions: Assisting during interventions and managing relationships with Revenue to ensure compliance and minimise risk.
• Joint audits: Managing joint audits for a unified approach in multiple jurisdictions.
• Defence files: Preparing robust defence files to support taxpayer positions.
• Tax appeals: Navigating the tax appeals process and assisting with hearings before the Tax Appeals Commission and higher courts.
• Settlement negotiation: Assisting clients with qualifying disclosures and negotiating with Revenue to resolve disputes.
• Transfer pricing disputes: Advising on effective resolution strategies such as mutual agreement procedures, correlative adjustments and advanced pricing agreements.

Transfer Pricing (TP) focuses on how different units within an organisation work together, specifically how arrangements are priced within the group. Our team works with clients, from small Irish start-ups to large multinationals, to make changes that ultimately improve their bottom line. Our projects often have an international tax focus, providing opportunities to travel for client meetings and PwC training events. We also offer secondments to other PwC territories, including Australia, Hong Kong and the United States. Additionally, the TP team provides dispute resolution services, assists clients in managing and defending tax authority enquiries, prepares defence TP documentation, operationalises clients’ TP policies through automation solutions, and advises on intra-group financial transactions and unique TP issues in the financial services industry.

Our Pensions team advises many of the largest organisations in Ireland. We have a strong reputation for leading-edge, corporate-focused advice and have grown significantly over the past five years. We are now the largest independent pension consultancy in the Irish marketplace.

Our focus on governance and independence allows us to view pension issues within the wider business context. We have developed intellectual property around proactive liability management and pension change projects, and we draw on the breadth of PwC’s technical and expert resources to find unique solutions encompassing wealth, taxation and other areas.

In addition to advising corporate entities on their pension arrangements, our experts advise individuals on strategic personal financial planning. This spans all areas of personal finance, including asset management, retirement planning and estate planning.

Our Workforce team helps large corporate employers stay ahead of tax and regulatory changes impacting their businesses and workforces. Our clients include multinational organisations, public sector bodies, entrepreneurs and family businesses. Our work is varied, with our tech-powered team leading projects such as supporting clients through mergers and acquisitions, working with clients’ HR and tax departments on workforce reshaping projects, and identifying and managing tax costs and risks, including Revenue interactions. We are part of the PwC Global Employment Tax network and collaborate with colleagues and clients in other territories on cross-border projects. There are also opportunities for travel and participation in PwC’s EMEA training academies.