Employment Tax Director Recruitment

Accountancy Capital places Employment Tax Directors, Heads of Employment Tax and Senior Employment Tax Managers at £75,000 and above for in-house tax functions across the UK. Employment tax — covering PAYE, NI, benefit-in-kind, share scheme reporting, IR35 assessment, global mobility and the employment status of contingent workers — is one of the highest-risk areas of the corporate tax function and one of the most technically complex.

The employment tax risk landscape has intensified significantly over the past five years — driven by the extension of IR35 to the private sector in April 2021, the continued growth of the gig economy and contingent workforce models, the globalisation of workforces that creates complex mobile employee tax and social security issues, and HMRC’s increasingly targeted employment tax compliance activity. The in-house Employment Tax Director who manages these risks proactively — who builds and maintains an IR35 assessment framework, who manages the benefit-in-kind reporting correctly and who ensures the PAYE operation is reconciled to payroll at every month-end — protects the business from employment tax exposure that can accumulate to material HMRC assessments over several years. Call 0204 553 8893 to brief a search or register your background.

What an Employment Tax Director Does

IR35 assessment and contingent workforce management. The April 2021 off-payroll working rules extension to the private sector transferred responsibility for IR35 assessment from the contractor to the medium and large business engaging them. The Employment Tax Director owns the business’s IR35 assessment framework — the processes by which engagements with off-payroll workers are assessed for IR35 status, the documentation of the assessment using the HMRC CEST tool or equivalent, the communication of the status determination to the contractor and the PAYE compliance where the engagement is assessed as inside IR35.

PAYE and NI management. The Employment Tax Director oversees the PAYE operation — typically managing the relationship with the payroll team or payroll bureau — ensuring that all employee remuneration is correctly taxed and reported through Real Time Information (RTI) to HMRC, that NI contributions are correctly calculated and paid and that the end-of-year P60, P11D and P11D(b) submissions are accurate and filed on time.

Benefits-in-kind and P11D reporting. The Employment Tax Director manages the BIK reporting cycle — the annual P11D submission for each employee who has received a reportable benefit during the year and the P11D(b) Class 1A NI payment. High-risk BIK areas that receive the most HMRC attention: company cars and fuel benefit (where HMRC cross-checks reported cars against DVLA data); employer-provided accommodation; loans to employees; and entertainment and hospitality where the business vs personal element requires judgement.

Share scheme reporting and management. Where the business has employee share schemes — EMI options, CSOP, SAYE, SIP or unapproved share options — the Employment Tax Director manages the annual share scheme reporting to HMRC, ensures that tax events (option exercises, share sales, EMI disqualifying events) are reported correctly and on time, and advises on the employment tax implications of new share scheme designs or modifications.

Global mobility and internationally mobile employees. The Employment Tax Director at a business with internationally mobile employees manages the UK tax and social security implications of inbound and outbound assignments — short-term business visitors who may have triggered UK tax obligations, outbound employees on secondment who may or may not have retained UK residency for tax purposes, and the PAYE withholding obligations for globally mobile employees.

HMRC employment tax compliance activity. The Employment Tax Director manages any HMRC employment tax enquiries or compliance reviews — the PAYE compliance check, the benefit-in-kind compliance review, the off-payroll working check — responding professionally and comprehensively to HMRC queries and managing the relationship to achieve the best outcome for the business.

Employment Tax Director Qualifications

The Employment Tax Director role at £75,000 and above is typically held by a CTA-qualified professional with a specific employment tax specialism — developed through an employment taxes team at a Big Four, Top 10 or specialist employment tax advisory firm. The ACA or ACCA qualification combined with extensive practical employment tax advisory experience is also represented at Employment Tax Director level, particularly at financial services businesses and PE-backed groups where the corporate tax function’s technical foundation is primarily ACA-trained.

The employment tax specialism is developed through exposure to the specific technical areas that generate the most HMRC compliance risk — IR35, share schemes, global mobility, benefit-in-kind — rather than through the broader corporate tax training that most tax professionals receive. Employment tax specialists who have managed a significant IR35 compliance programme since the 2021 private sector extension are in particularly high demand in the current market.

Employment Tax Director Salary Benchmarks — 2026

Financial services firms and PE-backed businesses with significant contingent workforces — where IR35 risk and global mobility complexity is highest — pay at the upper end of each range. See the In-House Tax Manager Salary Guide UK for broader in-house tax benchmarks.

IR35 and the Growing Demand for Employment Tax Specialists

The extension of the off-payroll working rules to the private sector in April 2021 created an immediate and sustained increase in demand for Employment Tax Directors with specific IR35 expertise. Businesses that had previously managed their IR35 obligations at a basic level — relying on contractors to self-assess their own IR35 status and taking limited responsibility as the engaging business — suddenly became responsible for making and documenting Status Determination Statements for every engagement and for PAYE compliance where the engagement was assessed as inside IR35.

Four years after the private sector extension, the IR35 compliance landscape has stabilised — but HMRC’s compliance activity in this area has not reduced. The Employment Tax Director who has built and maintained a robust IR35 assessment process, who can demonstrate to HMRC that the business’s assessments have been made reasonably and in accordance with the legislation, and who has the documentation to support every status determination is in a fundamentally stronger position than the business that has managed IR35 reactively or inconsistently.

Practice to In-House: Employment Tax Career Transition

Most in-house Employment Tax Directors have trained in the employment taxes or reward team of a Big Four or specialist employment tax advisory firm, typically completing the CTA qualification with an employment tax specialism before making the in-house move at four to eight years of professional experience. The practice-to-in-house transition for employment tax specialists follows the same dynamic as the corporate tax transition: the practice-trained employment tax professional brings breadth of technical exposure across multiple client contexts; the in-house role requires depth in the specific employment tax issues of a single business.

The most sought employment tax specialists in the in-house transition market are those who have managed complex IR35 programmes, built share scheme frameworks or managed the global mobility tax obligations of a multi-geography employer at a Big Four or specialist practice. See Tax Recruitment hub for all in-house tax roles and London Tax Recruitment for the London-specific market.

Share Scheme Reporting: A Specific Employment Tax Risk

Share schemes represent one of the highest-risk areas for employment tax in the mid-market — not because the legislation is uniquely complex, but because the reporting obligations are often poorly understood and the penalties for late or incorrect reporting are disproportionate. An EMI scheme that fails to notify HMRC of disqualifying events loses its EMI status, meaning option gains that should have been taxed as capital gains become income — potentially a significant unexpected employment tax liability. Annual share scheme reporting via the HMRC Employment Related Securities (ERS) service is required by 6 July each year for any company with a share scheme, regardless of whether any reportable events occurred in the year. The Employment Tax Director who manages the annual ERS submission process and who flags disqualifying events as they arise — rather than discovering them during the annual audit of the share scheme — prevents the most common share scheme tax failures.

Registering as an Employment Tax Candidate

Employment tax specialists — CTA-qualified with employment taxes specialism, or tax professionals with specific IR35, share scheme or global mobility advisory experience — who are considering a move from practice to in-house or between in-house roles are invited to register with Accountancy Capital. We maintain an active employment tax candidate network and contact registered candidates directly when we have a suitable brief. Registration is entirely confidential. Register here or call 0204 553 8893.