Pro-Tax Market Commentary and Salary Guide 2015-16

Welcome to the Pro-Tax Salary Guide & Market Commentary 2015. Pro-Tax is proud
to be part of the Pro-Recruitment Group alongside Pro-Finance and Pro-Legal. Each
year, we use our extensive market knowledge, client and candidate surveys and
vast database information to provide you with a detailed and accurate guide to the
market’s salaries for accountancy and finance professionals.
As you will see from the commentary, the majority of our clients are feeling optimistic
- not just for the coming year but projecting well into next year and beyond, with
many of them implementing 3 and 5 year plans with strong revenue and correlating
headcount growth.
As a consequence, we are not surprised that the market has swung back squarely in
the candidate’s favour. The commentary will support the argument that clients need
to be more innovative when it comes to structuring salary packages to attract the right
talent.
In addition to our regular salary and market commentary guides we have also written
‘How to recruit the best talent’ and ‘5 ways to retain your best staff’ – we would be
delighted to provide you with copies of these should you so wish.
If you have worked with Pro-Tax in the past, you will know that we always strive to go
the extra mile in order to make your recruitment as painless and efficient as possible.
That said, we never rest on our laurels and as a consequence we always welcome
feedback on this or any other publication, or any other aspect of our service.
Pat Keogh
Managing Director
Pro-Recruitment Group
Foreword
2 Pro-Tax Recruitment Specialists | 2015/16

3www.pro-tax.co.uk
Contents
Introduction
Meet the team
Corporate Tax
Personal Tax
VAT
Employee Issues & Expat
R&D Tax
Transfer Pricing
Head of Tax
Tax Partners
Am I being paid market rate?
Testimonials
4
5
6
9
12
14
16
17
18
19
20
21

Introduction
It seems to be a fairly widely held view that, not only has the economy recovered strongly from the
recent downturn but also that solid growth should continue for several years to come. One of the
many effects of the 2008 recession (or as some have labelled it, ‘The Second Great Recession’)
was that most businesses became ‘leaner and meaner’ in all areas including staffing. The improving
fortunes appear to have caught some firms, who were perhaps expecting more obvious signs, by
surprise and resulted in some ‘panic’ recruitment to cope with a surge of new work.
Recruitment has several litmus tests and one of those is the Big 4 and their levels of recruitment.
2014 saw an overall 16% rise in taxation jobs across the UK and this is expected to rise well above
25% moving forward. Such large scale recruitment from the four market leaders inevitability impacts
on availability across the market as a whole.
The battle for talent has pushed the average tax salary up by c.8% over the last 12 months and our
expectation is that 2015 will see a further increase of between 10% and 15% across the board. As
a barometer, newly qualified Big 4 ACA/CTA candidates have seen their average salary rise from
£42,000 (Q4 2013) to £45,500 (Q4 2014). At the senior end, Big 4 Partners’ salaries have stretched
well beyond this and have seen their average salaries rise by 24%, so the mean is £710,000.
The recruitment market is now as strong, if not stronger, than pre-2008 levels. Clients have had to
adjust from having the last few years in their favour, to it swinging strongly back into the candidates’
hands as they are often able to choose from multiple job offers. The clients that have adapted
quickest have outmanoeuvred many of their competitors and hired much of the limited talent in
the market. What was the secret of their success? Well, firstly they moved quickly on CVs and
appreciating that candidates now have a wide choice of vacancies, called interviews quickly. The
more savvy clients also ‘sold’ themselves strongly to suitable candidates, recognising that they
needed to move away from the mindset of “why do you want to work here?”. Some have offered
signing bonuses, flexible working hours/work from home and enhanced benefits packages.
We have seen the re-emergence of candidates coming from overseas, especially the Antipodeans
and the US to fill the skills gap. These have been complimented by others from weaker foreign
economies. Talent from within the EU (particularly Spain, Portugal, Germany and France) has
continued to be attracted to the UK - those with VAT, Transfer Pricing and International Tax experience
have fared most well.
So, the upshot is that we are in a very strong, competitive, candidate-led market that looks set to
be with us for a little while. There will be a high demand for newly qualified ACA and CTA (a dearth
caused by the Big 4 reducing graduate intakes in 2011/2012) in 2015/16 across all disciplines but
key hot spots will be M&A, Transfer Pricing, Expat and VAT.

www.pro-tax.co.uk
5
Senior Recruitment Team
PAT KEOGH
Managing Director
Pat Keogh is the founding Director of the Pro-Recruitment
Group which was set up in 2007 to cover the tax, legal and
finance markets. Pat is still instrumental in the operational
day to day running of several of the teams but he also has
a wider group role that sees him focus on the direction and
strategy of the business.
020 7269 6311
pat.keogh@pro-tax.co.uk
HEW SCOTT-WILSON
Head of Partner Search
Hew leads the Tax Partner Search offering, helping clients to
strategically expand their firms’ tax practices through bringing
in new partners. He has 10 years’ of experience in hiring tax
professionals in the UK, Middle East, Singapore and Hong
Kong. Hew now works closely with a range of carefully
selected clients including Big 4, Top 20 and boutique firms in
the UK and internationally.
020 7269 6331
hew.scott-wilson@pro-tax.co.uk
ALISON KEOGH
Associate Director
Alison is the Head of the Pro-Tax business covering both
Accountancy Practice and Commerce & Industry. Together
with her team she focuses on recruiting tax professionals
across the UK. Alison has nearly 15 years’ recruitment
experience and is well networked throughout tax; she is
a regular attendee and presenter at the Tax Awards and
continues to build relationships across the tax recruitment
market.
020 7269 6312
alison.keogh@pro-tax.co.uk
BEN HALL
Manager - Tax Practice
Ben runs the Tax Practice team and is a long standing
member of Pro-Tax. Ben has specialised in tax recruitment
throughout the UK and has a real passion for helping
candidates achieve their ambitions. Recruiting all levels of
tax professional from newly qualified through to Tax Partner,
he is a true specialist who is respected by his candidates
and clients.
020 7269 6315
ben.hall@pro-tax.co.uk
click hereTo view the full Pro-Tax team

Corporate Tax
Practice
Corporate tax has easily been the busiest
specialism for accountancy firms who have
posted record number of vacancies for both
compliance and advisory roles. The main pinch
point has been at newly qualified and up to 2 years’
PQE, especially for those with solid compliance
experience. Big 4 newly qualified Corporate Tax
Seniors range from £43,000 - £50,000 but we
have seen some clients pay as much as £58,000
to a newly qualified Accountant in their financial
services teams.
There has been a steady demand for Manager
and Senior Manager level candidates, but
unsurprisingly, not quite the volume recruitment
as with the newly qualified. Salaries at Manager
and Senior Manager level have risen by an
average of 9% through 2014 putting a Big 4
Manager on a salary circa £60,000 and a Senior
Manager at £70,000, compared with a Top
20 Manager on £55,000 and a Top 20 Senior
Manager on £65,000, all with additional benefits.
Clients are increasingly looking for Managers
and Senior Managers with strong business
development skills and not just delivery abilities.
We have seen a number of clients actively looking
at candidates returning from stints in commerce,
especially from oil & gas, financial services and
technology. Pressure points geographically have
been London, Reading and Manchester, with the
North West being exceptionally strong.
Commerce
The increased demand in commerce has been
more gradual than that in practice but we have
seen a number of in-house tax teams bulking up
in order to take back work that was previously
outsourced during the recession. Candidates with
strong compliance experience have been highly
sought after, as have, at senior levels, Group
Tax Managers with transactional tax experience,
especially with an international focus. Commerce
still has the lure of paying, on average, 10-20%
more on base salaries than practice with additional
incentives, often including a bonus element
(sometimes as high as 40%). There has also been
a flurry of activity among financial services clients
attending to FATCA requirements with a number
preferring to in-source and recruit rather than use
their external advisers. Geographically we have
seen London lead the charge with Scotland also
being particularly active due to financial services.
The exceptionally high demand for candidates in
practice has meant that, on occasion, commerce
has become a hunting ground for the Big 4.
Corporate tax has always been the
area with the highest demand and
candidates with this experience tend
to be, on average, paid about 15%
more than their rival taxes.

Corporate Tax
Position Scotland
Assistant £18-27k
Senior £28-42k
Supervisor £36-48k
Manager £52-62k
Senior Manager £64-78k
Director £80k+
Partner £180k+
Position North West
Assistant £19-27k
Senior £30-38k
Supervisor £38-44k
Manager £45-54k
Director £80k+
Partner £190k+
Position Home
Counties
Assistant £23-30k
Senior £35-42k
Supervisor £42-52k
Manager £55-66k
Director £100-165k
Position South West
Assistant £19-25k
Senior £28-36k
Supervisor £35-44k
Manager £45-52k
Director £85k+
Partner £150k+
Position North East
Assistant £19-27k
Senior £28-38k
Supervisor £36-44k
Manager £42-52k
Director £80k+
Partner £175k+
Position Midlands
Assistant £22-29k
Senior £32-38k
Supervisor £39-44k
Manager £46-58k
Director £95-150k
Partner £180k+
Position East Anglia
Assistant £20-27k
Senior £32-38k
Supervisor £37-43k
Manager £42-53k
Director £90-130k
Partner £180k+
Position London
Assistant £25-33k
Senior £42-52k
Supervisor £48-58k
Manager £58-70k
Director £120-220k
Partner £260k+
Big 4: Corporate & International Tax, R&D, Transfer Pricing & Operational Taxes
7
www.pro-tax.co.uk

Corporate Tax
London Home
Counties
Midlands North East North West South West East Anglia Scotland
Assistant £23-30k £22-28k £20-27k £17-25k £20-27k £17-25k £20-27k £16-27k
Senior £38-45k £34-41k £32-36k £28-34k £32-36k £28-34k £32-36k £26-38k
Supervisor £52-62k £40-45k £35-40k £33-40k £35-40k £33-40k £35-42k £35-42k
Manager £52-62k £48-60k £40-50k £40-45k £40-50k £40-45k £40-50k £50-58k
Senior Manager £65-85k £60-80k £55-75k £48-58k £55-75k £48-58k £55-70k £60-70k
Director £90-110k £85-100k £80-120k £65k+ £80-120k £65k+ £75-95k £75k+
Mid-Tier Public Practice: Corporate & International Tax, R&D, Transfer Pricing
& Operational Taxes
London Home
Counties
Accountant £45-60k £45-55k £40-50k £35-45k £38-45k £38-48k £38-45k £35-45k
Group Manager £80-120k £80-100k £70-90k £70-80k £70-80k £70-86k £60-75k £80-100k
Director £110-155k £100-130k £95-120k £90-110k £90-110k £90-105k £85-110k £90-110k
Head of Tax £110-155k £100-130k £95-120k £90-110k £90-110k £90-105k £85-110k £90-110k
Commerce & Industry: All levels
London Home
Counties
Midlands North East North
West
South West East Anglia Scotland
Associate £28-40k £25-40k £25-40k £25-40k £25-40k £25-40k £25-40k £25-40k
Vice President £75-90k £70-90k £65-85k £65-85k £65-85k £65-85k £60-80k £65-85k
Associate Director £95-125k £95-115k £90-110k £90-110k £90-110k £90-110k £90-110k £95-115k
Financial Services: Banking, Insurance, Asset Management, P/E etc

www.pro-tax.co.uk
9
Personal Tax
Practice
The past 12 months has seen a steady – though
not dramatic – increase in the personal tax
market. Continued new business wins has seen
clients add to their private client teams with
advisory focused Assistant Managers, Managers
and Senior Managers. 2014 saw the demise of
risky tax planning that has been highlighted in
the media with several well known celebrities
falling foul. This has had a slight knock-on effect
to some practices, although we commonly hear
that most of our clients never entertained this
type of planning. The shift, if any, has meant that
there is a need for more traditional tax advisors.
Ben Hall, Manager at Pro-Tax says “most of
our clients seek technically strong personal
tax compliance experience coupled with the
ability to spot obvious planning opportunities.
At the senior end of the market, there is an
emphasis on going out and winning work and
this tends to be heavily advisory focussed.”
If we had an influx of 50 new personal
tax candidates in a week, we’d most
likely find them all a new job. The
market has gone wild!
Succession planning has also been a notable
feature of recent hiring activity with many Senior
Partners identifying the need to appoint individuals
on a trajectory with the ability and potential to join
the partnership in due course. To this end, we
have seen many clients putting in place ambitious
long-term growth strategies and as a result we can
expect this year’s recruitment market to be even
more buoyant and favour the job seeker even
more strongly.
From a recruitment perspective, 2015 looks like
being an exceptionally good year for accomplished
personal tax specialists with demand significantly

Personal Tax
London
Home
Counties
Senior £40-48k £35-44k £33-38k £25-35k £30-35k £25-35k £30-36k £28-38k
Director £120-180k £100-150k £85-120k £70k+ £70k+ £70k+ £80-120k £75k+
Partner £240k+ £220k+ £190k+ £140k+ £170k+ £140k+ £150k+ £160k+
Big 4: Personal Tax and Expatriate Tax
Banking
The banks have taken their time to catch up with the rest of the market and capitalise on the vibrant
economy. Several well known private banks have begun to swell their ranks with personal tax advisers
as the market heads towards a 10 year high. Many of our key 2014 hires were candidates with a blend
of personal tax and wealth planning, a combination which the banks tend to favour. There was also a
steady demand from the banks looking for candidates with strong compliance skills to join their teams -
the majority of these came from a Big 4 background. Newly qualified personal tax specialists (Seniors)
were offered, on average, £52,000 to move into the financial services sector, often with a bonus element
of 10-15%.
It’s pleasing to see that banks are now full of
confidence and are looking to recruit into their
Private Client Teams

www.pro-tax.co.uk
11
Personal Tax
London
Home
Counties
Tax Assistant
(Partnership &
Expatriate)
£25-40k £23-30k £22-30k £22-30k £22-30k £22-33k £22-33k £20-30k
Partnership /
Expatriate Tax
Accountant
£44-55k £33-47k £32-45k £30-40k £30-40k £33-41k £33-43k £30-38k
Partnership Tax
Manager
£60-85k £48-60k £45-55k £38-45k £38-45k £38-45k £48-55k £40-50k
Group Tax
Manager
(Partnership)
£80-110k £70-85k £65-75k £60-70k £60-70k £60-70k £60-70k £55-65k
Head of
Partnership Tax
Affairs
£120k+ £85k+ £80k+ £80k+ £75k+ £75k+ £72k+ £70k+
Commerce & Industry: Partnership and Expatriate Tax
London
Home
Counties
Senior £38-44k £30-38k £28-35k £23-34k £25-33k £23-34k £28-33k £28-40k
Mid Tier: Personal Tax and Expatriate Tax

VAT
London Home
Counties
Senior £39-46k £34-42k £32-36k £28-36k £32-36k £28-38k £32-36k £26-38k
London
Home
Counties
VAT Assistant
£25-38k £23-35k £21-30k £18-28k £20-28k £18-29k £20-27k £17-27k
VAT / Indirect Tax
Accountant
£35-50k £33-48k £33-44k £33-40k £35-40k £33-42k £35-40k £30-40k
Indirect Tax
Manager
£50-70k £45-58k £43-55k £45-55k £50-55k £45-58k £50-59k £47-58k
Group Indirect
Tax Manager
£75-100k £72-100k £65k+ £62k+ £60k+ £62k+ £60k+ £62k+
VAT Director
£88-135k £85-135k £80k+ £80k+ £80k+ £80k+ £80k+ £80k+
Mid Tier: VAT
Commerce & Industry: VAT
The market for VAT specialists has been particularly
buoyant since 2012, with good candidates being
in very high demand. As a consequence, premium
salaries are frequently offered along with occasional
signing bonuses. Alison Keogh, Associate Director
says, “Across the board in practice we have a record
number of VAT vacancies, clients are bending over
backwards to meet with VAT specialists, however,
candidates should be prepared to be put to the test at
interviews and not rest on their laurels. Yes firms are
offering higher salaries and bonuses, but they are still
being very selective on who they recruit because they
know they are offering a premium”. The consensus
is that VAT doesn’t show any signs of slowing down,
there are certain teams in the market that have
achieved more than 10% growth year on year for the
last few years and who are confident that this is set to
continue. Alison concluded, “VAT seems to be at an
all-time high, we’ve seen some candidates offered
as much as a 30% increase on their base salaries.”
The commerce market for VAT specialists is also
very strong - we witnessed an 8% increase in
salaries across this sector in 2014. Candidates in
particularly high demand are those with financial
services or oil & gas VAT experience and they can
often demand as much as a 20% premium to the
market average. Typically VAT Managers are paid
£65,000 - £75,000 plus up to 30% bonus, dependent
on the sector. Geographical pinch points have been
London, Aberdeen and Bristol.
Commerciality is key for anyone
wanting to move from a practice role
into an in-house VAT role
Practice Commerce

www.pro-tax.co.uk
13
VAT
Position Scotland
Assistant £18-29k
Senior £30-42k
Supervisor £35-48k
Manager £50-62k
Director £85k +
Partner £180k +
Position North West
Assistant £18-26k
Senior £30-37k
Supervisor £37-42k
Manager £43-50k
Director £75k+
Partner £180k+
Position Home
Counties
Assistant £23-35k
Senior £35-45k
Supervisor £42-49k
Manager £52-65k
Director £100-165k
Partner £220k+
Position South
West
Assistant £17-26k
Senior £28-38k
Supervisor £35-44k
Manager £42-50k
Director £85k+
Partner £160k+
Position North East
Assistant £17-28k
Senior £28-38k
Supervisor £35-43k
Manager £40-48k
Director £78k+
Partner £150k+
Position Midlands
Assistant £20-29k
Senior £32-39k
Supervisor £37-45k
Manager £42-55k
Director £90-135k
Partner £180k+
Position East Anglia
Assistant £20-29k
Senior £32-39k
Supervisor £37-45k
Manager £42-55k
Director £90-135k
Partner £180k+
Position London
Assistant £24-38k
Senior £40-48k
Supervisor £46-55k
Manager £55-68k
Director £120-180k
Partner £240k+
Big 4: VAT

Practice
As predicted in last year’s Salary Survey,
2014 has seen a number of key senior hires in
Employment Tax among the Big 4 and Top 20 to
fuel the growth that they are looking to achieve.
With these now in place we have seen a marked
increase in the number of Manager and Senior
Manager vacancies to service the additional
work that Partners and Directors are bringing
to the firm. It seems that the smaller boutique
firms are still also making an impact across the
UK, with many offering boutique comp and bens,
remuneration planning and equity reward advice at
a fraction of the cost of some of the major players.
Onthecorporateandnot-for-profitsideofEmployee
Issues there have been some very large contracts
won and some exciting acquisitions made meaning
that 2015 looks like being another promising
year. Alison Keogh says, “With our clients always
looking to diversify we have even seen them start
to offer HR Advisory services to larger clients in
order to continue to strengthen their consultancy
offering and stand out from their competitors.”
London
Home
Counties
Midlands
North
East
North West South West
East
Anglia
Scotland
Senior £39-46k £35-40k £30-38k £25-35k £32-38k £25-35k £30-36k £32-38k
Big 4: Employment, Share Schemes, Compensation & Benefits
Expats are in high demand again, it’s
fair to say they get paid a premium
over other tax specialisms
In 2013 we reported reduced recruitment across
the Expatriate Tax market following the very high
levels of activity in 2011/12. There has been no
significant change in 2014. Whilst clients are
happy to make occasional hires if a new client
has been won or as a result of staff attrition, the
market is probably best described as ‘stable’.
Ben Hall says, “I think this is a really good thing
for the Expatriate Tax community. The Big 4, Top
20 and Expatriate Tax boutiques are being more
cautious in their recruitment, so when new roles
do come to the market, candidates are often
more inclined to consider these opportunities.”
In 2015 we expect to see a continued rise in
consultative employment tax planning areas, in
addition to other services such as, Immigration
and HR Advisory as well as branching out to dual
handling where they haven’t done so in the past.

www.pro-tax.co.uk
15
Commerce
Expatriate tax took off like a rocket in 2014 with the highest levels of demand for more than 7 years
from financial services and corporate multinationals. The need was most acute at junior levels with high
demand for dual handlers (mainly UK/US) who were able to handle large number of assignees from a
compliance perspective. Several banks made volume hires to keep pace with ever increasing global
mobility. At the senior end, VPs and Directors needed to have the capabilities to run the large programs
from both a tax technical stand point as well as the wider co-ordination and HR piece. Pat Keogh states
“There has been a need in the multinationals for all-round expat specialists, those that can technically
deal with queries but who can also deal with the trouble-shooting from an IT, HR and administration
perspective. These senior candidates have to be prepared to roll up their sleeves - sometimes they may
feel like they spend more time project managing than they do getting involved in specific tax issues”.
London
Home
Counties
Midlands North East
North
West
South West East Anglia Scotland
Senior £38-45k £30-38k £28-35k £23-34k £25-33k £23-34k £28-33k £28-40k
London Home
Counties
Assistant
Manager
£45-65k £40-60k £40-60k £40-60k £40-60k £45-60k £40-60k £40-60k
Comp & Bens
Manager
£60-110k £60-105k £55-95k £55-75k £55-70k £55-70k £55-70k £55-75k
Comp & Bens
Senior Manager
£80-120k £90-110k £80-100k £80-90k £80-90k £85-95k £70-90k £70-90k
Comp & Bens
Director
£135k+ £130k+ £110k+ £100k+ £100k+ £105k+ £100k+ £110k+
Mid-Tier: Employment, Share Schemes, Compensation & Benenfits
Commerce & Industry: Employment, Share Schemes, Compensation &
Benefits

R&D Tax
Research and Development tax has continued
to be exceptionally buoyant. The Chancellor’s
March Budget saw some positive changes
for the industry and this further enhanced
a record year for R&D tax recruitment.
The boutique firms are now rivalling the Big 4 in
their offering and the previous dominance is no
longer so. We have seen a number of our boutique
clients tender for and win work that two or three
years ago would have been dominated by the Big 4.
The Big 4 saw a return on their recruitment
investment of 2013, and the hires made in
London Home
Counties
Midlands North East North West South West East
Anglia
Scotland
Senior £38-45k £34-41k £32-36k £28-34k £32-36k £28-34k £32-36k £26-38k
Mid-Tier Public Practice: Corporate & International, R&D, Transfer Pricing & Operational Taxes
London Home
Counties
Midlands North East North
West
South
West
East
Anglia
Scotland
Group Manager £80-120k £80-100k £70-90k £70-80k £70-80k £70-86k £60-75k £80-100k
Head of Tax £110-155k £100-130k £95-120k £90-110k £90-110k £90-105k £85-110k £90-110k
HoT FTSE 100 £160k+ £150k+ £150k+ £150k+ £150k+ £150k+ £150k+ £150k+
Commerce & Industry: All levels
London Home
Counties
Midlands North
East
North
West
South
West
East
Anglia
Scotland
Associate £28-40k £25-40k £25-40k £25-40k £25-40k £25-40k £25-40k £25-40k
Vice President £75-90k £70-90k £65-85k £65-85k £65-85k £65-85k £60-80k £65-85k
Associate Director £95-125k £95-115k £90-110k £90-110k £90-110k £90-110k £90-110k £95-115k
Managing Director c £290k+ c £290k+ c £250k+ c £250k+ c £250k+ c £250k+ c £250k+ c £250k+
Financial Services: Banking, Insurance, Asset Management, P/E etc
2014 have been required to deliver on the ever
increasing workloads. It seems that across
the market, winning new R&D tax work has not
been an issue in recent years but having the
team to deliver has. As such, clients have looked
further afield for their new staff. Historically
engineers from varying specialisms have made
the transition to R&D and this continues to be
the case but in 2014, to fuel demand, we have
seen a huge rise in the number of corporate
tax specialists appointed into R&D tax roles.

www.pro-tax.co.uk
17
Transfer Pricing
Within both Commerce & Industry and Practice we have seen a more structured recruitment approach
to Transfer Pricing. With the ever changing tax legislation internationally, clients are increasing inclined
to bring specialists on board from overseas, predominantly Europe. We have seen a tactical change
within Big 4 firms such that Transfer Pricing teams sit alongside their tax teams, in order to work more
efficiently with M&A, International and Tax Risk Management. Within Industry we have seen a large
number of vacancies come to the market as clients are keen to acquire expertise in-house. Alison Keogh
says, “With clients having an increased focus on risk management and compliance it is imperative that
any Transfer Pricing specialist not only has the technical skills to cope with the tax implications but also
a more rounded business understanding surrounding all areas of risk and tax controversy.”

Head of Tax
ThemarkethaspickedupgraduallyforHeadsofTax
andwehaveseenanincreasingnumberofchanges
at the top level. The range of salaries varies hugely
within the FTSE 100 from £180,000 to £540,000.
Sub FTSE 250 and within AIM and large OMB’s
the ranges become much more predictable with a
typical Head of Tax now being paid in the region
of £120,000 - £170,000 plus bonus and benefits
which normally equate to a further cash benefits
of circa 20-30% of salary. Changes in legislation
allied to HMRC’s crackdown of organisations
avoiding tax will no doubt mean that we will see a
number of changes in Heads of Tax and with some
companies even looking to set up new tax teams
to specifically deal with these types of issues. Jim
Halstead, Director at Pro-Tax says, “We’ve had
some very interesting chats with FDs and Global
Heads of Tax who predict a change is needed in
some companies in order to improve shareholder
confidence that the organisation is acting ethically
or at the very least paying the taxes that are due”.

www.pro-tax.co.uk
19
Tax Partners
We witnessed one of the strongest years of
Director and Partner moves in 2014 and our sense
is that this will only increase in 2015. The charge
was led by the Big 4 and Top 10 accountancy
powerhouses where some very significant
Partners swapped allegiances, often creating a
wave with more moves below them. The strong
economy has been anticipated by many of the
accountancy firms and some of the moves that we
worked on were initiated as early as 2013. Last
year we handled 45 Partner mandates. Many of
the Top 10 firms have adopted 3-5 year plans with
exceptionally high levels of growth which will only
be achieved with a high calibre leadership team.
Pat Keogh says, “This is probably the most buoyant
market since the recession. Not only are the Big
4 exceptionally active with individual hires but we
are increasingly seeing them recruit whole teams,
direct from a competitor or niche tax specialist.”
Areas that have been in especially in demand
are Capital Allowances, M&A & Deals Tax,
Expatriate Tax & Employee Issues and Mid-
Market Corporate Tax. That is not to say there
is not demand for other tax specialists, it’s just
we are seeing very high levels of interest in
these types of individuals. Packages for Big 4
Tax Partners are now averaging £710,000, with
significant uplift on specialist areas such as tax
Technology, Transfer Pricing and M&A. Big 4 Year
1 Tax Partners can expect £340,000 - £390,000
(with a number of exceptions in excess of £400k).
Top 10 Equity Partners now range from £280,000 -
£450,000 with Salaried Partners around £140,000
- £190,000. There are of course exceptions,
however we have attempted to give a general
range. Small and medium sized practices typically
pay Salaried Partners £110,000 - £160,000 with
Equity Partners earning £180,000 to £300,000.
Pat adds, “The best advice for aTax Partner is to put
us on your radar. Many Partners are often wary, in
a very incestuous market, that making an approach
to a competitor will create problems with their own
firms. This rarely happens and some of our biggest
moves have been initiated via an informal coffee.”
It’s time to take a look at what
other firms are doing; you’d
be surprised at how many
Partners move after initially
meeting for just a coffee
“
”

Am I being paid Market Rate?
Unsurprisingly, this is one of our most commonly asked questions. The market has shifted
significantly in the last 18 months, far more than clients and candidates often appreciate. The most
accurate way to assess market rate is via our Bespoke Salary Assessment which is free, completely
confidential and without obligation.
Pat Keogh | Managing Director
020 7269 6311
pat.keogh@pro-tax.co.uk
Alison Keogh | Associate Director
020 7269 6312
alison.keogh@pro-tax.co.uk
Ben Hall | Manager
020 7269 6315
ben.hall@pro-tax.co.uk
Hew Scott-Wilson | Head of Partner Search
020 7269 6331
hew.scott-wilson@pro-tax.co.uk

www.pro-tax.co.uk
21
Testimonials
We have worked with Alison and her team on tax
recruitment over a number of years now. Always
extremely pleased with the level of support and
quality of candidates which Alison has provided us
over the years. Her insight and knowledge of the
recruitment market has been excellent. Alison and
her team have always made time to support our
recruitment efforts and I highly recommend her and
her team
“
” Frank Buffone, Partner, EY
I worked with Alison this year when she matched
me with a role in a boutique firm. I found Alison to be
extremely attentive, and actually took the time to find
a role that really did tick all the boxes. Should the
need arise I would happily approach Alison again,
and would recommend anyone else looking for a
role to contact her.
Andrew Rainford, Candidate
”
Rachel Barry from Pro-Tax has recently supported
us at Maersk with a number of new vacancies for
the Tax Team in our London office. After meeting
with the Senior Management team she had a clear
understanding of the company and what was needed
from candidates both technically and personally to
ensure they were right for the long term plans of the
business. Working closely with the management
team and HR she was able to manage the process
smoothly and efficiently keeping all key stakeholders
up to date of what was happening within the process.
Her biggest success of the campaign was filling a
brand new senior manager role within four weeks
from start to finish.
“
”
Danielle Cummings, HR Business Coordinator, Maersk
“
candidatesclientsView all of our testimonials by using the following links:
”
“
Simon Paler, Head of UK Tax, Maersk
Rachel really made an effort to understand the
long term goals of the business and produced a
strong range of candidates. A great service, I would
definitely recommend.
Loved the service I had from Rachel, open and
honest communications, rapid response and always
helpful. This is what I want from my agencies and will
use you again.

20-23 Greville Street London EC1N 8SS
020 7269 6333
info@pro-tax.co.uk
www.pro-tax.co.uk

Pro-Tax Market Commentary and Salary Guide 2015-16

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Pro-Tax Market Commentary and Salary Guide 2015-16