Moving from Practice Tax to In-House: A Career Guid

The move from a practice tax department to an in-house role is the most common route into corporate tax teams, and one of the least well prepared for. The work looks similar from the outside — the same legislation, the same computations — and is different in almost every respect that matters day to day. You trade a portfolio of clients for one business, technical breadth for commercial depth, and a structured career ladder for a flatter one where progression depends on the business rather than a promotion cycle. This guide covers what actually changes, when the move prices best, what to expect on salary, and how to make the case to an employer.

What genuinely changes

One client instead of thirty. The defining difference. In practice you see many businesses shallowly; in-house you see one deeply. That suits people who want to understand a business properly and frustrates those who enjoy variety — and it is worth being honest with yourself about which you are before you move.

You become the internal client. Rather than advising and moving on, you live with the consequences of the advice. That changes how you give it: an in-house tax professional recommends what the business can actually implement, not what is technically optimal in isolation.

Chargeable time disappears. No timesheets, no utilisation, no realisation. What replaces it is less structured and, for some people, less comfortable — you have to decide what is worth your time rather than having it decided by what is billable.

You buy advice rather than give it. One of the biggest practical adjustments. Managing external advisers — scoping, challenging, controlling cost — is a core in-house skill and it is one practice never teaches, because in practice you are the adviser. Our guide to managing external tax advisers covers what good looks like.

And you have to be understood. In practice you talk to finance directors and other tax people. In-house you explain positions to sales directors, operations managers and boards, and the ability to do that plainly becomes as valuable as the technical knowledge.

When the move prices best

Qualification — CTA from the Chartered Institute of Taxation, or ICAEW / ACCA with genuine tax experience — is the baseline for both markets. There is a genuine sweet spot, and it sits at roughly three to eight years of practice experience.

Earlier than three years and you are competing against candidates with more autonomous experience, and you may not yet have the technical confidence in-house roles require — there is nobody down the corridor to check with.

Between three and eight years is where in-house employers are most active. You are qualified or close to it, you have run client relationships, you have handled real technical work, and you are still affordable relative to a senior in-house hire.

Beyond eight to ten years the move becomes harder, not easier. Practice progression starts to price you above equivalent in-house roles, and employers question whether a senior practice specialist will adapt to a narrower, more commercial remit. It is entirely doable — and it usually means targeting Head of Tax rather than manager roles, or accepting a lateral move on money.

What to expect on salary

The honest picture on money: the move is usually broadly neutral to modestly positive at manager level and below, and it can be a small step back at senior manager and above. What frequently improves is the wider package — bonus structures, pension, and hours — and the trade most people are actually making is predictability and depth rather than headline salary. Benchmarks are in our in-house tax manager salary guide and the wider salary guides.

Which in-house route to target

The specialism you carry from practice largely determines where you land, and some routes are considerably easier than others.

Corporate tax is the widest route — most in-house tax roles are corporate tax roles, and practice corporate tax experience maps directly. See our corporate tax manager job description for what employers specify.

VAT is the scarcest and best-paid transfer. Indirect tax specialists are in short supply in-house and the premium is real — covered in our VAT manager guide.

Employment tax is growing fastest and transfers well, particularly for anyone with IR35 and benefits experience — HMRC’s off-payroll guidance is the reference point employers expect familiarity with.

Private client is the hardest, because most businesses have no in-house need for it — the realistic routes are family offices, owner-managed businesses where personal and corporate intertwine, or a pivot into corporate tax. Our comparison of private client versus corporate tax covers the distinction.

Transfer pricing and international transfer well into larger groups, and barely at all into mid-market businesses that do not have the complexity.

Making the case at interview

In-house employers are testing three things beyond the technical, and practice candidates often prepare only for the technical.

Can you translate? Expect to be asked to explain something — a VAT treatment, why a bonus costs more than its face value — as you would to a non-specialist. It is a live test and it is frequently the most revealing part of the interview.

Do you have commercial judgement? Which risks matter and which are theoretical. Practice trains you to identify every issue; in-house rewards knowing which ones deserve the business’s attention. Prepare an example of advice you have given that took the client’s practical constraints into account.

Will you cope with being alone? Most in-house tax roles are single-person or small functions. Employers ask, in various ways, whether you can hold a position without a partner to escalate to. Our in-house tax interview questions guide sets out what employers actually ask.

And on your CV: translate the practice language. Not “managed a portfolio of clients” but “prepared and reviewed corporation tax computations for groups with turnover up to £120m, including [the specific technical areas]”. Employers are matching your experience against their business, and portfolio language makes that harder than it needs to be.

What people miss about the move

Three honest observations from people who have made it. Progression is flatter. There is no promotion cycle; you progress when the business grows or when you move. The isolation is real at first — no cohort, no technical department, no corridor conversation. Most people find a network externally and value it more than they expected. And the work is less varied but more consequential: fewer different problems, but you see them through and live with the outcome, which most people who make the move say they prefer.

If you are weighing it, the wider transition is covered in our guide to moving from practice to in-house, and the progression once there in tax senior to tax manager.