Accountancy Capital places tax professionals at £50,000 and above across two distinct markets. Practice tax covers the specialist roles within accountancy firms, law firms and tax advisory practices. In-house tax covers the Tax Managers, Heads of Tax and tax specialists employed directly by commercial businesses to own the company’s tax position. These are different candidate pools with different qualification routes, career paths and hiring dynamics, and our recruitment team works in both.
This page is the hub for our UK tax recruitment. It sets out the roles we recruit across corporate tax, VAT and indirect tax, employment tax and private client, with typical salary ranges, and explains how the practice and in-house markets differ. For London specifically, our London tax recruitment agency page covers the capital’s in-house market in more detail.
Our commercial focus is at the senior end: Corporate Tax Directors, Employment Tax Directors and VAT Directors in practice, and in-house Tax Managers and Heads of Tax in commercial businesses at £60,000 and above. At those levels the candidate pool is scarce relative to demand, and a specialist search adds real value over advertising alone.
The Tax Disciplines We Recruit
Corporate tax
Corporate tax is the largest single tax discipline and the most common first in-house tax hire. Practice roles run from Tax Senior through Manager and Senior Manager to Director; our Tax Senior job description and guide to moving from Tax Senior to Tax Manager cover the early career steps. At Manager level and above, see Senior Corporate Tax Manager recruitment, the corporate tax manager job description and Corporate Tax Director recruitment. In-house, corporate tax work centres on corporation tax compliance, deferred tax and the tax reporting that feeds the year-end accounts.
International tax and transfer pricing
Groups with overseas subsidiaries need someone who understands transfer pricing, permanent establishment risk, controlled foreign companies and the global minimum tax rules. We recruit International Tax Managers for both practice and in-house teams, and our guides to Pillar Two and BEPS for tax teams and transfer pricing basics for Financial Controllers explain what the role now involves.
VAT and indirect tax
VAT is a discipline of its own, with its own technical career path. We recruit VAT Managers and VAT Directors in practice and in-house, with particular demand in financial services, property and businesses trading cross-border. The VAT Manager job description and salary benchmarks page sets out the role, and our VAT guide for finance teams covers what non-specialists in the finance function need to know.
Employment tax
Employment tax covers PAYE, National Insurance, benefits in kind, share schemes, termination payments and off-payroll working (IR35). See Employment Tax Director recruitment, our guide to employment tax, IR35 and benefits in kind and our view on when to hire employment tax in-house. HMRC’s guidance on off-payroll working is the starting point for any business engaging contractors, and our explainer on HMRC tax codes covers the PAYE basics employees most often ask payroll and tax teams about.
Personal and private client tax
Private client work is a practice-led market serving high-net-worth individuals, families, trusts and estates. We recruit Personal Tax Managers and Private Client Tax Managers; our Personal Tax Manager role and salary guide and our comparison of private client and corporate tax hiring explain how the two markets differ.
Tax investigations, R&D and specialist roles
Specialist roles include Tax Investigations Managers, who handle HMRC enquiries and disclosures (see what the tax investigations role involves), and R&D tax specialists. Our guides to R&D tax and Patent Box capability in-house and the Financial Controller’s guide to R&D tax claims cover the in-house side of that work.
Practice Tax Recruitment
Practice tax professionals work within accountancy firms, law firms and specialist tax advisory practices, advising clients rather than managing a tax position in-house. At senior level the market is highly specialist: a Corporate Tax Director or Employment Tax Director with a client portfolio and sector specialism is a very different hire from a generalist tax manager, and the search needs a candidate network that follows practice tax career moves directly rather than relying on advertised roles. Our wider practice accountancy recruitment covers audit and advisory roles alongside tax.
| Role | Typical London salary | Specialism |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate Tax Director | £95k–£160k | CT advisory, corporate structuring, M&A tax |
| Employment Tax Director | £90k–£145k | PAYE, NIC, benefits, employment structuring, IR35 |
| VAT Director | £90k–£140k | Indirect tax advisory, partial exemption, property VAT |
| Senior Corporate Tax Manager | £72k–£100k | CT compliance and advisory; stepping towards Director |
| International Tax Manager | £70k–£105k | Transfer pricing, CFC, Pillar Two, cross-border structuring |
| VAT Manager (practice) | £60k–£88k | Indirect tax; land and property; cross-border VAT |
| Personal Tax Manager | £58k–£82k | Self-assessment, HNW individuals, trusts and estates |
| Private Client Tax Manager | £65k–£85k | HNW and UHNW clients, offshore structures, IHT planning |
| Tax Investigations Manager | £65k–£95k | HMRC enquiries, COP9, contentious tax |
These are typical London ranges; regional salaries usually sit below them, and bonus structures vary widely between firms. Practice hiring at Director level works differently from most senior finance searches. The candidate’s client relationships, sector focus and the realistic portability of their work matter to the hiring firm as much as technical ability. These conversations need discretion and honesty about what a move means for the candidate’s career and clients. Senior practice searches are often run on a retained or exclusive basis, and fees are agreed in writing before a search starts.
Brief a Tax Recruitment Search — 0204 553 8893
Practice or in-house, permanent, interim or fractional. A consultant will respond the same working day with a straight view on candidate availability and salary. Email recruitment@accountancycapital.co.uk.
In-House Tax Recruitment
In-house tax is a separate and equally specialist discipline. When a business brings tax expertise in-house, usually because external advisory costs have become significant or the tax position is complex enough to need daily management rather than periodic advice, the right candidate is very often a practice-trained tax professional making the move into industry. The technical skills transfer; what changes is the context, the accountability and the scope. Our guide to what an in-house Tax Manager does explains the role, and candidates weighing the move should read moving from practice tax to in-house.
The in-house Tax Manager or Head of Tax owns corporation tax compliance, manages the external tax adviser relationship, maintains the tax risk register and looks for legitimate planning opportunities, keeping a clear line between tax compliance and tax planning. In international groups they also manage transfer pricing documentation, permanent establishment risk and the effect of Pillar Two on the group’s effective tax rate. In businesses with significant employment or property exposure, they manage those obligations alongside the mainstream corporate tax position.
| In-house tax role | Typical London salary | Typical business |
|---|---|---|
| Head of Tax / Tax Director | £95k–£140k | Listed, large PE-backed or international group |
| Senior Tax Manager (in-house) | £75k–£100k | Mid-sized to large businesses, often with overseas operations |
| In-House Tax Manager (first hire) | £60k–£80k | Growing businesses making their first in-house tax appointment |
For a fuller breakdown by specialism, region and business size, see the In-House Tax Manager Salary Guide.
When to bring tax in-house
There is no single spend figure at which an in-house hire becomes right, but the external advisory bill is the most useful guide. When fees are consistently high, and a material share of them pays for work an in-house Tax Manager could do independently, the hire often pays for itself well within its first couple of years. An in-house professional also gives the business something advisers cannot: someone who knows the business closely and is in the room when commercial decisions are made, which is when tax consequences are easiest to manage. Our guide to hiring your first in-house Tax Manager covers the timing, the profile and the brief, and our article on building a scalable tax team looks at what comes next.
The decision is often made reactively, after an expensive adviser bill, an HMRC enquiry or a problem that would have been caught earlier with someone inside the business. Businesses that hire before the external cost becomes painful tend to get more from the appointment, because the Tax Manager is involved in commercial decisions from the start rather than inheriting a backlog.
Practice or In-House: Which Market Is Your Hire In?
The two markets overlap, but a brief that ignores the difference usually struggles. Practice firms are hiring for technical depth, client management and, at senior level, business development. In-house employers are hiring for ownership of a single tax position, the ability to work with non-tax colleagues and enough commercial sense to spot issues early. Typical differences we see:
- Scope: practice roles are often deep in one specialism across many clients; in-house roles are broad across all taxes for one business or group.
- Career path: practice offers a defined route to Director and Partner; in-house progression runs from Tax Manager to Head of Tax and, occasionally, into wider finance leadership.
- Pay: in our experience base salaries are broadly comparable at Manager level; in-house packages often weigh more on bonus and benefits, practice on progression.
- Assessment: practice candidates are judged on technical and client work; in-house candidates on judgement, communication and how they manage advisers.
Our tax manager interview questions for in-house roles help hiring managers test for the in-house qualities, and our overview of tax roles in demand sets out the skills employers are asking for.
Qualifications in the Tax Market
The CTA (Chartered Tax Adviser), awarded by the Chartered Institute of Taxation, is the benchmark qualification in both practice and in-house tax at Manager level and above. CTA-qualified candidates have the deepest technical foundation and are most sought after at Senior Manager to Director level in practice and Head of Tax level in-house. Many senior tax professionals hold both an accounting qualification and the CTA, having qualified as Chartered Accountants with the ICAEW or as ACCA members before specialising. In our experience the combined ACA and CTA credential commands a premium at equivalent experience.
The ATT, awarded by the Association of Taxation Technicians, is a common route into tax and a step towards the CTA. ATT-qualified candidates are often placed in compliance-focused roles, particularly in personal tax, VAT and employment tax. ACA-qualified candidates without the CTA are well represented at Senior Manager and Director level where the accounting side of the work matters as much as the tax specialism. We verify professional memberships before any candidate reaches a shortlist.
Interim and Fractional Tax Professionals
Not every tax need is a permanent hire. Interim tax professionals cover parental leave, bridge a gap after a resignation, manage a peak in compliance work or lead a project such as a Pillar Two implementation, a VAT review or a response to an HMRC enquiry. Fractional arrangements suit businesses that need senior tax judgement one or two days a week without a full-time salary. See interim tax professional recruitment and our interim tax day rates. Interim and fractional candidates are often available at short notice, and shortlists usually follow within days.
How a Tax Search Works With Us
A consultant from our recruitment team takes the brief: the role, the reporting line, the tax footprint of the business and what success looks like in the first year. We give an honest view on salary and availability before you commit, and fees are agreed in writing before a search starts. We respond the same working day, and permanent shortlists typically follow within one to two weeks. If you need finance hires alongside tax, such as a Financial Controller, we can run both from one brief. CFO and Finance Director searches often run with our sister firm FD Capital; Accountancy Capital is one of the five specialist firms of FD Capital Group.
We work from offices at 167–169 Great Portland Street, London W1W 5PF and Watling Court, Orbital Plaza, Watling Street, Cannock WS11 0EL, and recruit for tax roles across the UK.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you recruit both practice and in-house tax roles?
Yes. We recruit senior practice tax roles in accountancy firms and advisory practices, and in-house tax roles in commercial businesses, from Tax Manager to Head of Tax.
Which tax specialisms do you cover?
Corporate and international tax, VAT and indirect tax, employment tax, personal and private client tax, tax investigations and R&D tax.
Do candidates need the CTA?
Not always. The CTA is the benchmark at senior level, but ATT, ACA and ACCA-qualified candidates with the right experience are placed regularly. We set the requirement with you when we take the brief.
What does a tax search cost?
Fees are agreed in writing before a search starts, so there are no surprises later.
How quickly will you respond?
The same working day. Call 0204 553 8893 or email recruitment@accountancycapital.co.uk.
Adrian Lawrence FCA — Founder, Accountancy Capital
Fellow of the ICAEW | Chartered Accountant holding an ICAEW practising certificate | Part of FD Capital Group
Adrian holds a BSc from Queen Mary College, University of London, and is a former listed-company Finance Director, so he has sat on the client side of the tax adviser relationship. He built Accountancy Capital’s tax practice to cover both practice and in-house markets, and oversees the recruitment team that runs each search.
Related Pages and Resources
Practice Tax
Senior advisory roles in firms.
In-House Tax
Tax Managers to Heads of Tax.
Hiring Guides
Building tax capability.
UK Tax Recruitment — 0204 553 8893
Corporate tax, VAT, employment tax, private client and in-house Tax Managers to Heads of Tax. Same-working-day response on every brief, or email recruitment@accountancycapital.co.uk.