Tax Accountant Cum General Accountant

1. ABOUT THE ROLE
Aurora International School of the Arts is a Reggio Emilia-inspired international school in Thao Dien serving children aged 1 to 15, from Nursery through Middle School. English is our language of instruction, with Vietnamese and Japanese taught as mother tongues, and we work with an international faculty alongside our Vietnamese team. You will own Aurora's entire accounting and tax function - from daily bookkeeping and tuition revenue through to financial statements, tax finalisation and representing the School during tax and social insurance inspections.
This is a broad, hands-on position rather than a narrow specialism. International school accounting has its own rhythm: tuition arrives in large waves at the start of each term but must be recognised month by month, a significant share of income is VAT-exempt while ancillary services are not, foreign faculty bring their own payroll and tax complexity, and the School may qualify for the preferential corporate income tax rate for socialised education. You will be the person who gets all of this right.
What success looks like in the first year:
• Every tax obligation filed and paid on time, with no penalties.
• A clean monthly close by the 10th, with reconciled cash, bank and receivable balances.
• Tuition revenue correctly deferred and released, and parent receivables kept under control.
• School Leadership receiving reliable numbers they can act on.
2. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Tax compliance - 30%
• Classify revenue correctly between VAT-exempt teaching activities and VAT-taxable services (meals and catering, school bus, uniforms, books and materials, holiday camps, enrichment clubs, facility rental), and allocate common input VAT accordingly.
• Prepare and file monthly/quarterly VAT and PIT returns; calculate quarterly provisional CIT payments and prepare the annual CIT finalisation.
• Handle PIT for foreign teaching staff: residency status, net-to-gross conversion, housing and insurance benefits, and Double Taxation Agreement relief.
• Identify and declare foreign contractor tax on payments to overseas partners - curriculum and enrichment programme licences, accreditation bodies, overseas professional development, software and online platforms, and international teacher recruitment services.
• Maintain and defend eligibility for the 10% preferential CIT rate for socialised education establishments (Decision No. 1466/QD-TTg), including segregation of incentivised and non-incentivised income.
• Manage the e-invoice lifecycle under Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP; verify the validity of input invoices and supplier status.
• Act as focal point for tax and social insurance inspections, preparing documentation and providing explanations.
General accounting & financial reporting - 25%
• Maintain the full ledger under the applicable accounting regime (Circular No. 200/2014/TT-BTC or Circular No. 133/2016/TT-BTC).
• Recognise tuition on a matching basis - defer fees collected in advance and release them over the relevant months or terms; track unearned revenue accurately.
• Account for collect-and-remit items (class funds, meal money, student health insurance) separately from School revenue.
• Perform period-end entries: prepaid expense allocation, depreciation, accruals and closing entries.
• Reconcile cash, bank, receivables, payables, advances and tax balances monthly; close the books by the 10th.
• Prepare annual financial statements and file them with the tax authority; liaise with external auditors where applicable.
• Control the completeness and validity of supporting documentation and maintain an audit-ready file.
Tuition revenue & parent receivables - 20%
• Build and maintain the academic-year fee schedule across Nursery, Preschool, Primary and Middle School: tuition, application and deposit fees, meals, bus, uniforms, enrichment clubs and holiday camps.
• Control the application of scholarships, sibling discounts, staff-child benefits and early-payment discounts, ensuring each has valid approval.
• Reconcile enrolment between the school management system, admissions data and the accounting records; investigate headcount differences affecting revenue.
• Issue fee notices and e-invoices to parents on schedule; reconcile receipts across bank, payment gateway and cash daily.
• Report receivables by ageing bracket and work with Admissions and homeroom teachers on collection.
• Process withdrawals, transfers and deferrals: calculate refunds per policy and adjust invoices and deferred revenue.
Employee tax & HR coordination - 10%
Payroll is prepared and administered by the HR team. This role does not calculate or run payroll; it partners with HR on the tax and documentation side and records the results in the books.
• Calculate, withhold and declare monthly/quarterly PIT for Vietnamese and foreign staff, using the payroll data provided by HR.
• Handle PIT for foreign faculty: residency status, net-to-gross conversion, treatment of housing, flights and insurance benefits, and Double Taxation Agreement relief.
• Prepare the annual PIT finalisation for the School as the paying organisation; issue withholding certificates and support staff who authorise the School to finalise on their behalf.
• Maintain the supporting tax paperwork with HR: personal tax code registration, dependant relief files, income commitments and labour contract data relevant to tax treatment.
• Advise HR on the tax and cost implications of remuneration packages, allowances and benefits, particularly for international faculty.
• Record payroll, social insurance and trade union costs in the ledger; reconcile the accounting balances against HR's payroll register and the Social Insurance agency records.
Fixed assets, inventory, payments & cash - 10%
• Maintain the fixed asset and tools register - classroom and atelier equipment, art and learning materials, IT hardware, kitchen equipment, school buses - and calculate depreciation and allocation.
• Organise periodic counts of assets, tools and inventory (books, art and atelier materials, uniforms, kitchen supplies) and resolve variances.
• Distinguish capitalised facility works from period expenses.
• Control payment requests, advances and settlements against approved authority limits; perform supplier balance confirmations.
• Oversee the cash book, conduct periodic cash counts with the cashier and enforce holding limits.
Budgeting, management reporting & controls - 5%
• Contribute to the academic-year budget: revenue forecasts under enrolment scenarios, staffing costs, operating expenses and capital expenditure.
• Monitor budget execution, analyse actual-versus-plan variances and explain the drivers.
• Produce management reports on revenue by year group, cost per student, staff cost as a percentage of revenue, cash flow forecasts and receivables.
• Propose improvements to internal financial policies: expenditure authority, tuition collection and procurement.