What will happen in the temporary tax jobs market? Six trends for 2010

As 2009 drew to a close, the market for interim tax professionals began to show some signs of recovery. Whilst placement numbers remained consistent with those made earlier in the year, enquiries from both existing and new clients with an intention to recruit on an interim basis in 2010 began to filter through, Pure Taxation’s Interim team now have comprehensive view of 2010, and a brighter outlook is evident for the temporary tax professional. Kimberley Britt, Executive Consultant, has defined six trends that are to define 2010's temporary tax jobs market.

1. Recovery in financial services

The FS sector began to show a marked boost in requests for interim assistance within in-house tax functions in late 2009 and new year budgets within large companies looked set to allow for additional temporary assistance in the new year. The current year is so far looking set to bring promise for an improved interim and contract market.

2. Pressure from more work and headcount freezes

The past year’s need for cost saving by way of downsizing and making redundancies seems to have taken effect on the capacity of in-house tax functions with permanent tax teams finding themselves overworked and under resourced and in desperate need of additional assistance.  With companies slowly emerging from the recession, head count restrictions still remain in place leaving no other alternative but to look at temporary tax employees as a solution to perhaps bring backlog compliance work up to date or to assist in a project capacity.

3. VAT specialists continue to be in demand

A recognised growth area amidst the downturn and continues to be indirect tax, as discussed last year in Dalia Greenwood's article. Given the heightened demand for liquidity, any mechanism that so directly impacts on cashflow (VAT being a real-time tax, collected and paid at source) is bound to come to prominence. We have witnessed an increasing number of VAT professionals who have been hired to work on a project basis focusing on systems implementation, international VAT planning, VAT compliance and risk management. Due to recent UK & EU legislative and regulation changes, there is a continued need for specialists in this area.

4. Transfer pricing is another growth area

Transfer pricing remains high on the agenda for Tax Directors and will remain a strong area for recruitment throughout 2010 with many FTSE 100 & 250 companies evaluating whether to bring in permanent hires to cover TP or if contractors can assist in a more project focussed capacity.  

Similarly, the introduction of HMRC's Senior Accounting Officer Requirement has seen many companies look to assess existing tax governance framework internally. Many of our clients have indicated that they will look for additional assistance throughout 2010 with the commencement of documenting existing processes and controls to ensure that requirements are met. 

5. Expatriate and employment taxes to remain buoyant

Temporary and contract work within employment and expatriate taxes remains steady with a number of FTSE 100 businesses without a dedicated employment/expatriate tax resource looking for project assistance in these areas.

6. Greater demand for senior temporary tax professionals

The beginning of 2010 has also seen more senior level recruitment, which is set to continue. These positions have either been Interim Head of Tax roles or senior projects focusing on restructuring as well as increased appetite in the M&A arena.