Director, Tax – Africa OU at Coca-Cola

This position requires the ability to interpret, analyze and apply increasingly complex foreign tax provisions having a material impact on the Company’s ETR and EPS. You will need to work with the Africa Operating Unit (AOU) Finance Leadership Team as well as AOU Public Affairs associates to analyze the in-depth impact of any potential legislative or regulatory changes in the region. Such analysis is used to assist them in determining the focus of their advocacy efforts. These potential legislative and regulatory changes may have a material impact on KO’s effective tax rate (ETR) and earnings per share (EPS).

The role requires someone who is seen as a subject matter expert both inside and outside the Company, such as with KO’s advisors and local tax auditors, and who can communicate very complex calculations and principles to non-subject matter experts.

The job can be in different places in Africa, but Egypt, Nigeria, or Ivory Coast are preferred. The role reports to the VP, Senior Tax Counsel

What You’ll Do for Us:

Focus, Scope and Impact:

• This position requires the ability to interpret, analyze and apply increasingly complex foreign tax provisions having a material impact on the Company’s ETR and EPS.
• This position will need to work with the Africa Operating Unit (AOU) Finance Leadership Team as well as AOU Public Affairs associates to analyze the in-depth impact of any potential legislative or regulatory changes in the region. Such analysis is used to assist them in determining the focus of their advocacy efforts. These potential legislative and regulatory changes may have a material impact on KO’s effective tax rate (ETR) and earnings per share (EPS).
• This position requires someone who is seen as a subject matter expert both inside and outside the Company, such as with KO’s advisors and local tax auditors, and who can communicate very complex calculations and principles to non-subject matter experts.
• Key Focus Areas / Responsibilities:
  • This position will be primarily responsible for all tax matters (corporate income, VAT and other indirect as well as payroll taxes) for a number of jurisdictions in Africa, which are expected to span certain North African jurisdictions (e.g., Egypt), French-speaking jurisdictions (e.g., Ivory Coast, Morocco) as well as several English-speaking jurisdictions in West Africa (e.g., Nigeria, Ghana), with flexibility to, at times, cover jurisdictions elsewhere in the African geography.  As part of this responsibility, this position will liaise with the Tax Counsel covering these jurisdictions but will have increasing responsibility for day-to-day tax matters in the geography with a large amount of autonomy for related decisions.
  • This position will be responsible for proactively coordinating with field finance, operations and legal professionals for identifying and addressing local tax matters.  This role is, in essence, the “feet on the street” for the Tax Counsel.  As such, building relationships and trust with local field personnel is a key component of this role.
  • This position will be responsible for local tax audits, both direct and indirect tax as well as payroll related.  In this role, this position will work with / influence local finance / tax personnel and will also work with outside advisors in determining audit strategy and in dealing directly at times with local tax officials.
  • This position (along with local LECs and the Center of Excellence) will be responsible for income and VAT tax returns in the jurisdictions in the geography.
  • With regards to indirect taxes, this role will manage VAT payments by local affiliates with an eye to reducing VAT exposure (or lengthy outstanding receivables) to the extent possible.
  • In the AOU, the TCCC organization has a mix of service companies, branches and representative offices, which requires this position to regularly work with locals to examine the appropriateness of the local structure – this includes an analysis of activities conducted in the relevant jurisdictions and determining, where applicable, whether and at what point local service companies are required. 
  • This position will work with the Tax Counsel covering the region on local M&A initiatives and any local tax-related litigation.
  • This position will be a key contributor to addressing transfer pricing issues in the region.
  • This position will work with relevant associates Senior Director, Global Reporting and Strategic Tax Initiatives in compiling information for and submitting local country-by-country reports as well as assisting relevant associates in gathering and compiling requests from local tax authorities.
  • This position will be responsible for assisting Tax Counsel on new global product initiatives, such as the roll out of new alcohol products.
  • This position also will be responsible for the development in tax matters of the local LECs who handle such tax matters in the jurisdictions which they support. The position also requires the ability to communicate with others outside of the Tax Department at many levels about complicated tax issues.
• This position will be focused on short-, mid- and long-term strategies.  For instance, many of the issues that this position will face will be of the shorter-term day-to-day type, but they will also deal with longer-term strategic matters such as the structuring of local legal entities, M&A initiatives, preparing for local tax audits and other matters.
• This position has responsibilities related to a large number of jurisdictions with different tax systems, dealing directly with issues that are material to the financial statements.

Qualifications & Requirements:

• 10+ years in the Consumer Products industry with responsibility for indirect and direct tax matters and managing foreign income and indirect tax controversy in the regions covered by the position.
• Fluency in English required; additional fluency in French highly desired.
• Build strong relationships with Field personnel across many functions to identify and address complex income and indirect tax issues across a wide geography of diverse jurisdictions.  Manage tax audits in jurisdictions for which they are responsible. Work on a variety of strategic projects across the geography with Tax Counsel.
• Communication Focus:
• This role will need to be able to regularly communicate with KO associates across geographies and functions as well as with outside consultants who are assisting with local tax issues, audits, transfer pricing issues and local tax documentation requirements.   
• This role will also need to influence, teach, and review associates across KO geographies and functions on a regular basis on a variety of income and indirect tax matters. 
• There will be many occasions where this role will need to communicate to all levels of KO, at times communicating information that is not consistent with the desires of the business (e.g., when what the business wants to do creates tax issues).  Such communication will require a great deal of tact while also the resolve to stand by their positions and support them with their analyses.