Expat Tax, International Assignments & Global Mobility: ‘On the move’

The increasingly global nature of large companies means that human capital needs to be more mobile than ever. The demand for individuals to relocate internationally within these companies is ever increasing. It is becoming more and more important to ensure that efficient expatriation systems are in place in order to achieve smooth relocation with minimal disruption. This, combined with a vast amount of individuals choosing to work, live or retire abroad of their own accord over recent years has seen an increase in recruitment for professionals in expatriate tax, international assignments and global mobility.

Market Trend – Expatriate Tax

From mid way through 2009 until now, expatriate tax has been one of the most upbeat areas for interims. Working or moving abroad creates complex tax and social security implications for the individual. At the same time, it opens up opportunities for saving tax which can often go unexploited. Companies are recognising the beneficial implications of having an in-house expatriate tax manager to specialise in understanding the complex tax rules of the jurisdictions in which their expats reside. Two FTSE-listed companies have recently taken on temporary expatriate tax managers to set-up an in-house capability for them.

Market Trends - Global Mobility / International Assignments

Following the economic downturn, many organisations have reviewed their global mobility policies. These policies have been re-written and implemented and a common theme has been cost reduction. We have noticed that more and more companies are looking to manage assignees internally rather than outsourcing case management to their advisors. Consequently, a number of temporary and contract positions have arisen to bring the management of end to end processes for international assignees in-house. Pure have successfully recruited five interim contractors at Analyst level to assist with this type of work in the last quarter.

We need you!

Whilst the last two years have inevitably led to a tightening in the people services (the general name for this profession) recruitment market, as the economic situation stabilises talented people are once again in demand. Professional services firms, particularly the Big 4, are significantly increasing head count amongst their human capital, expatriate tax, global mobility and international assignment services teams on a permanent basis at Manager and Senior Manager grade and, contrary to popular belief, there remains a shortage of good candidates across all levels within all specialisms of people services who are immediately available and actively looking for temporary and contract work.

Pure has an established specialist People Services team covering the fields of international assignments, global mobility and expatriate taxes for both interim and permanent opportunities.