BM Indirect Tax Salary Survey and Market Report 2016

TAYLOR ROOT | 1

digital disruption - Will this change the

indirect tax world as we know it?

Number of hires and salaries increase as market conditions improve

antoni turczynowicz shares his views on the latest trendsSee more on page 8

See more on page 4

See more on page 5

2016

Indirect Tax UK Salary Survey and Market Report

CONTENTs

Tax Digitisation – To what extent are computers disrupting the white collar industry of Indirect Tax? 5

4Market overview

Antoni Turczynowicz shares his views on the latest trends

Salary guide

8-9

10-11

Recruitment trends 6-7

2 | BREWER MORRIS

Successful placements 12

Testimonials 13

introduction & thanks

T: +44 (0)20 7332 9597 | E: [email protected] T: +44 (0)20 7332 2475 | E: [email protected]

BREWER MORRIS | 3

Once again we are delighted to present our latest review of the Indirect Tax market covering the Commerce & Industry (C&I) sectors, Financial Services (FS) and Practice. Our data analysis and trends cover both the permanent and interim markets across the UK only.

We aim to provide an accurate reflection of market conditions, supply, demand, remuneration levels and any other significant developments of note that have impacted and shaped the Indirect Tax market over the last 12 months.

The data used in this salary survey was collected from responses via an online questionnaire that went out to 1,954 UK Indirect Tax professionals registered on the Brewer Morris database across various market sectors. The responses were then grouped by grade (Assistant Manager, Manager, Senior Manager, Director, Head of/Partner) in each respective industry (C&I, FS, Practice) and an average figure was deduced for base salary, car allowance and bonus.

It is worth noting that when reviewing salary and benefits across industries, there can be significant differentials for similarly qualified Indirect Tax professionals depending on their specific industry sector. For example, salary levels compare more favourably in the financial services and commodities sectors than in media and retail for Indirect Tax professionals with similar experience and tenure. For the most accurate advice on salary levels and remuneration packages, please contact a member of our Indirect Tax recruitment team.

Lastly, we would like to thank those individuals that completed the online questionnaire and Antoni Turczynowicz for sharing his viewpoints on topical Indirect Tax matters.

Warren WilliamsSenior Indirect Tax Consultant - C&I

Andrew VinellHead of Indirect Tax - FS & Practice

MARKET OVERVIEW

Over the last 12 months, we have seen a steady growth in the market for Indirect Tax professionals. Hiring was mainly driven across FS and Practice, with fewer hires across C&I.

We witnessed a continued expansion in demand for Indirect Tax professionals in Practice at all levels across the Big 4 and mid-tier firms as well as the smaller accountancy practices. This demand continued unabated during the first quarter of 2016.

In C&I, 2015 was very much a year of two halves. With the place of supply rules coming into effect in January 2015 as part of the EU Directive, and the improvement in the oil price, the year started off strongly with a high level of hiring at Assistant Manager and Manager levels. Confidence had returned to the market as teams were growing and hiring freezes had been lifted. However, the latter half of the year proved more challenging as oil prices plummeted and the focus in Tax moved to BEPS, causing the Indirect Tax market to slow down. The roles which did come on to the market tended to be more compliance focused at junior levels with fewer newly created roles compared to FS and Practice.

In Financial Services, we saw a very different market to the difficult year we experienced in 2014. There was a healthy number of newly created roles that came on to the market across all levels in 2015. Many of these positions were advisory focused and those candidates with strong consulting skills in the FS sector were in particularly high demand.

Finally, there was a high demand for candidates with systems experience throughout 2015 which has continued into the first quarter of 2016 as businesses look to move increasingly towards digitisation.

Overview of market in 2015

4 | BREWER MORRIS

“UK BUSINESSES FACE THE CHALLENGE OF PRODUCING A GREATER VOLUME OF VAT RETURNS

IN A MORE EFFICIENT AND ACCURATE WAY”

Tax Digitisation – To what extent are computers disrupting the white

collar industry of Indirect Tax?

Warren WilliamsSenior Indirect Tax Consultant - C&I

It should come as no surprise to business leaders that we are very much in the digital age, or at the beginning of what the World Economic Forum calls the “Fourth Revolution,” characterized by the mass adoption of digital technologies and processes. Digitisation in the tax world will have many significant advantages, but at what cost?

UK businesses face the challenge of producing a greater volume of VAT returns in a more efficient and accurate way as a result of increasingly stringent scrutiny from HMRC and changes in the EU VAT Directive. Whilst many businesses rely on using Excel to produce VAT returns and manually adjusting data from internal systems before including it on the VAT return, the shift is gradually moving towards a fully automated process which will require less manual work – and ultimately rely on fewer headcount.

Whilst HMRC aims for tax digitisation by 2020, which is intended to integrate businesses’ software with HMRC’s systems to share real time information and automation of the tax return process, it is unclear how VAT reporting fits into these plans. In 2015, 63% of hires in Indirect Tax were for compliance and systems focused roles rather than advisory. We have seen that trend continuing into Q1 of 2016 which would suggest that, as yet, the move towards automation has had little impact on the need to have skilled professionals on the ground.

BREWER MORRIS | 5

Salaries driven up by a candidate led market

In 2014, the volume of candidates on the market exceeded the

number of opportunities available, often allowing prospective

employers the luxury of having more than 2 good candidates to

choose from at final stages. However, that dynamic changed in 2015

as market conditions improved, hiring freezes were lifted, and in

general companies looked to grow their teams again. The number

of opportunities significantly outweighed the supply of good talent,

meaning candidates often had more than one offer to choose from.

Ultimately, this drove up salaries as companies exceeded market

value offers in order to secure their preferred candidate.

“AVERAGE PERCENTAGE OF BASE SALARY PAID

INTO YOUR PENSION BY YOUR EMPLOYER = 4%”

““

Recruitment Trends

6 | BREWER MORRIS

Respondents’ company type

19%

21%

Overseas multinational

Big 4

18%

3%

12%

3%

FTSE 100

Law Firm

Mid-tier

Top 20

17%

7%

Financial Services

FTSE 250

what percentage increase are

you expecting to receive in 2016?

7%

26%1%

47%

18%

No percentage increasewill be awarded

8-10%

4-7%11+%

1-3%

Our data suggests that market confidence is improving on previous

years as 73% of respondents expect to receive an increase of 1-7%

on their salaries in 2016, 82% expect to receive a bonus this year,

and 84% had not been affected by redundancy programmes in the

last 12 months. Interestingly, when asked what the most important

factor is when considering a new role, the majority of respondents

said it was down to the job specification rather than salary.

RECRUITMENT TRENDS

BREWER MORRIS | 7

would you expect to receive a bonus?

19%

15%

Yes, 1-5%

Yes, 20+%

17%

18%

Yes, 16-20%

No

18%

13%

Yes, 11-15%

Yes, 6-10%

has your company/firm undertaken a formal redundancy programme within the tax function in the last 12 months?

16% 84%YES NO

What is most important when looking for a new role:

1 Job specification

2 Salary

3 The team

4 The business

5 Additional benefits

antoni turczynowicz shares his views on the latest trends

What do you recognise as the biggest developments affecting the Indirect Tax world in the short, medium and long term?

Developments in Indirect Tax, I believe, generally follow what is happening in the real world and recently from a tax perspective, a lot has been happening out there. Tax globally is clearly more topical, with the significant issues being:

• The challenges of the global digital economy for both B2B and B2C;• The higher profile associated with tax avoidance and VAT fraud;• The attraction of Indirect Tax as a consistent revenue source and governments wanting to collect more tax

revenue;• The availability of big data and government believing it can use it to exert control and compliance.

All of the above factors impact businesses and them having to recognise and accept the challenge of ever greater Indirect Tax compliance and administrative obligations.

More businesses in the B2C area around the world now have to register locally and collect VAT on the final consumption by the consumer. The list of countries that are requiring this and are thinking of introducing it is ever growing as the governments realise how much revenue can be collected on these B2C transactions. We can expect the majority of countries to have this obligation within the next few years and it is in an area that the OECD is currently looking to provide further guidance on to ensure VAT neutrality and a consistent/simple VAT/GST registration process.

A key development last year was the successful OECD publication setting out the International VAT/GST guidelines which I view as a positive development, especially when you hear about the number of countries looking to develop their VAT regimes who look to the VAT/GST guidelines when planning to make future changes.

To combat VAT fraud more tax authorities are trying to pass the responsibility of policing (and corresponding tax loss) onto businesses; requiring more verification of suppliers and business customers and providing more detailed transactional information as part of the overall indirect filing obligations. These requirements will result in the data having to be submitted digitally with greater real time electronic reconciliation between all suppliers/customers in that country which creates, at a practical level, greater constraint on recovering and reporting VAT compared to what actually is allowed under the actual Indirect Tax legislation.

In the short to medium term, the trend in Indirect Tax has been to try to use technology to help with the compliance and administrative reporting obligations, but currently I believe there to be an acceleration and increased appetite to develop automation and manage Indirect Tax using technology platforms - both in-house and bought in.

For the longer term, I definitely see the replacement of the VAT advisor and compliance analyst by artificial intelligence and end-to-end digital platforms performing intelligent self-corrections. Your robotic VAT advisor - a positive thing if you want them to turn up on time the next day after a stimulating VAT conference!!

BREWER MORRIS | 9

How do these developments affect the role of the Head of Indirect Tax and the way they ensure their teams are ready for the future?

This is clearly a challenging area for the Head of Indirect Tax. How do you get the balance right between advisory, compliance and having the technology capability to service the business? Do you bring in people with IT skills and develop them to be tax capable or do you train and develop the current team you have to be more IT savvy? Or, do you just get the budget to outsource both the reporting and also the technology capability? Finding people with the right skill-set and experience including VAT technology is not easy, but when you do, they often come at a premium.

How do you feel Indirect Tax is perceived within the commercial environment? Have you noticed any significant shifts in perception in recent years and if so, why?

I have definitely noticed that Indirect Tax is being considered more carefully by the business because it impacts the delivery and profitability, whether directly or through the market price to the consumer. However, the perception by certain parts of the business that VAT is a ‘pain’ has not changed - just that they now view it is an important pain that needs to be dealt with and not ignored.

How does the Indirect Tax function directly impact on the commercial and strategic direction of your business? Has it contributed to growth, and if so, in what way?

For us the Indirect tax function has always been trying to catch up as the business growth has been very dynamic. However, strategically in the last year, there has been a shift for Indirect Tax to be closer to the business to help support better future growth. This is being achieved through investment in people and developing technologies to facilitate better Indirect Tax compliance and advisory services to the business.

What is your opinion on Heads of Indirect Tax becoming Heads of Tax? Are there any advantages/disadvantages to this?

I clearly think this is very advantageous to the business. The future tax revenue will be generated more from Indirect Tax, so a business that appoints somebody who knows the tax and business in detail at a transactional level can only be more beneficial.

LATEST TRENDS

Antoni has been a tax professional for over 25 years, starting his career with the UK tax authorities, then as a tax partner with PwC in their Central & Eastern European (CEE) partnership. During this time he was the lead partner for the US VAT Global team, CEE Indirect Tax Team and also PwC EU Enlargement leader. He then worked at IBM as an external consultant on Huawei‘s global tax transformation before he moved to Huawei permanently as a Director in their Indirect Tax Centre of Expertise (COE).

Antoni has been published numerous times and has presented on global Indirect Tax issues to a wide variety of business organisations, directly to governments, the OECD and the United Nations.

SALARY GUIDE

SALARY GUIDE

COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Average base Car allowance Bonus

Head of Indirect Tax

FTSE100 £131,482 £9,875 £39,445

FTSE250 £105,001 £9,012 £31,500

Overseas Multi-national £105,904 £9,368 £31,771

Director

FTSE100 £116,163 £8,117 £23,233

FTSE250 £101,844 £6,891 £20,369


Senior Manager

FTSE100 £92,560 £6,341 £13,884

FTSE250 £88,073 £5,816 £13,211


Manager

FTSE100 £70,378 £4,987 £7,038

FTSE250 £67,784 £4,435 £6,778


Assistant Manager

FTSE100 £49,460 n/a £2,473

FTSE250 £44,253 n/a £2,213

Overseas Multi-national £45,504 n/a £2,275

10 | BREWER MORRIS

BREWER MORRIS | 11

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Average base Car allowance Bonus

Head of Indirect Tax

FTSE100 £138,820 £10,369 £50,321

FTSE250 £111,069 £9,018 £44,313


Director

FTSE100 £119,463 £9,116 £33,370

FTSE250 £109,057 £8,578 £31,244


Senior Manager

FTSE100 £96,140 £7,176 £24,009

FTSE250 £90,165 £6,482 £20,300


Manager

FTSE100 £74,078 £6,240 £18,432

FTSE250 £70,886 £5,497 £16,017


Assistant Manager

FTSE100 £52,008 n/a £7,044

FTSE250 £47,955 n/a £5,232

Overseas Multi-national £49,131 n/a £5,263

PRACTICE

Average base Car allowance

Partner

Big 4 £602,428 n/a

Mid-tier £172,436 n/a

Top 20 £153,055 n/a

Director

Big 4 £113,685 £9,097

Mid-tier £98,421 £8,632

Top 20 £95,109 £8,124

Senior Manager

Big 4 £89,084 £5,781

Mid-tier £84,894 £5,541

Top 20 £82,034 £4,986

Manager

Big 4 £65,126 £4,702

Mid-tier £61,223 £3,964

Top 20 £60,182 £4,187

Assistant Manager

Big 4 £49,304 n/a

Mid-tier £44,915 n/a

Top 20 £40,702 n/a

IN-HOUSE TEMP

Day rate

Head of Indirect Tax £500 - £700

Director £400 - £600

Senior Manager £350 - £450

Manager £300 - £400

Assistant Manager £200 - £300

HEAD OF/PARTNER

Global Head of Indirect Tax Head of Indirect Tax Head of Indirect Tax Head of VAT and Operational Taxes Head of Indirect Tax VAT Partner Head of Customs

DIRECTOR

Customs Director Indirect Tax Director Associate Director – Global Customs

SENIOR MANAGER

VAT Senior Manager VAT Senior Manager Group VAT Manager Senior Tax Manager (VAT) Indirect Tax Senior Manager Senior Indirect Tax Manager

MANAGER

VAT Manager Indirect Tax Compliance Manager Indirect Tax Manager VAT Litigation Manager VAT Manager VAT Manager VAT Manager Indirect Tax Manager Indirect Tax Manager

ASSISTANT MANAGER

VAT Compliance Specialist Indirect Tax Accountant VAT Assistant Indirect Tax Advisor Indirect Tax Specialist Indirect Tax Advisor VAT Analyst VAT Consultant Indirect Tax Consultant Indirect Tax Advisor Indirect Tax Analyst VAT Advisor

INTERIM

VAT Maternity Cover VAT Contract Maternity

successful placements

12 | BREWER MORRIS

Dentsu AegisAspen InsuranceFTI ConsultingLloyds Banking GroupMarks & SpencerMazarsTetra Laval

AMCODiageoDiageo

EYGrant ThorntonInchcapeKingston SmithPwCXerox

AccentureAce European GroupMondelezEYHSBC PlcInforma GroupTescoWells FargoXerox

AIGAspenBDOBPDong EnergyGazpromInvesco PerpetualRyanSaffery ChampnessSkyValeroVodafone

EDF EnergyMarks & Spencer

Testimonials

BREWER MORRIS | 13

“Regarding the recruitment process for Mustafain: firstly I appreciated your call to me to enable you to better understand the background to the role and how that role would fit into the wider team. As we went through the process you were quick to inform me of the other opportunities he was looking at, and giving me forewarning of the challenges over salary packages for the other roles, which gave me time to circle back internally”.

Jennie Rimmer, Group Head of Tax, Aspen

“Experience with Brewer Morris has been great. They took me through the entire interview process very clearly and concisely. They also negotiated a very handsome package for me and found me a great opportunity to develop my career further. I would like to thank them and would highly recommend them to anyone”.

Mustafain Ali Naqvi, candidate placed at Aspen

“I am delighted that we found the right candidate and I think that it is due to no small part played by you in finding a good selection of profiles which you knew would match Diageo. Although there were administrative difficulties at the start of the process, you shrugged them aside and dealt with them in the background whilst retaining your focus on recruiting the right candidate. Your feedback to me on what was happening and when was timely and I appreciated being kept in the picture”.

Alan J Hughes, Director of Global Indirect Tax, Diageo

“From the very start of the application process I have valued your coordination and guidance very much. I especially appreciated the detailed preparations for each individual discussion with Diageo with information about the persons I was about to speak to as well as the expectations the business had of each and every session. Your follow-up calls and feedback after each session were extremely valuable as you kept me well-informed along the whole process.

I can be absolutely honest in saying that I have never experienced this level of counseling and guidance from a recruitment agent in the past whether in my encounters as a representative of the hiring entity or as applicant and I am very thankful for your efforts which have now come to fruition”.

Mike Bing, candidate placed at Diageo

“I am pleased to say that the process in hiring Gemini has been very smooth. You clearly had briefed her on who we are and how we operate which is great to see as it demonstrates that you understand our business and therefore are able to pitch us to the market in the correct manner. We look forward to her joining the team in the coming weeks. Thanks once again”.

Ben Carney, Resourcing Partner at Gazprom

“Brewer Morris have been really helpful and supportive over my recruitment process. Their strength has been that they kept in frequent communication with me to update me on job opportunities, interview preparation and throughout the job offer acceptance process. For me this was very important because it shows that they were keen to provide me with support from start to finish.

It was also impressive to see that they knew the indirect tax market well in the London region. I would be happy to recommend Brewer Morris to any future colleagues/friends seeking indirect tax opportunities. Once again thank you for all your help and assistance and look forward to keeping in touch with you”.

Gemini Parmar, candidate placed at Gazprom

“In summary, the service was fast, responsive and effective. We were under some pressure to find a replacement for our VAT manager and our key requirements in terms of location, skills and timing were particular. We were pleased to receive 4 good CVs in the required timeline and the process of arranging interviews was efficient and done at short notice. Communication was also good in that we were kept up to date with developments on a timely basis. So to reiterate, great service overall.

Jon Greenwood, Group Tax Director at Inchcape

the sr groupBREWER MORRIS

CARTER MURRAY

FRAZER JONES

SR SEARCH

FOLLOW brewer-morris

Market leading recruiters of tax and treasury professionals throughout the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the Middle East

Award-winning specialist recruiters of marketing and business development professionals to the professional & financial services sectors in the UK, and across multi sectors in the Middle East and Australia

International specialists in supplying Human Resources talent for permanent and temporary positions around the world

Specialist senior level legal search on a truly international basis, as well as specialists in due diligence

The world's leading legal recruiters, specialising in placing lawyers, paralegals and compliance specialists from office in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and AustraliaTAYLOR ROOT

Brewer Morris has been recruiting in the Tax and Treasury markets for over 30 years. We are firmly established as a market leader and take great pride in the enormous number of long-term business relationships that we have developed throughout the tax world. We work with many Partners and Heads of Tax that we first placed on qualification.

From offices based in London, Melbourne and Sydney we recruit across the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Our clients range from all of the international and national accountancy and law firms through to FTSE 100 and 250 companies, major multinationals, financial services organisations and global investment banks.

CONTACTS

BREWER MORRIS | 15

Andrew has 14 years’ experience in the Tax profession. The first 7 years of his career were spent in a technical capacity at KPMG, Saatchi & Saatchi and EY before moving across to the world of Tax recruitment. He specialises in recruiting Indirect Tax and Transfer Pricing professionals for the in-house and practice markets. His mixture of first hand experience and technical know-how allow him to fully appreciate his clients needs and identify the best candidates for the role.

Andrew Vinell,Head of Indirect Tax - FS & Practice

Matthew leads Brewer Morris in the UK and EMEA. He originally qualified as a solicitor and practiced in the West End of London before joining Brewer Morris in 2004 . Matthew began his career within the commerce, industry, banking and F.S. team and has recruited leading tax professionals into a variety of businesses across a range of sectors both in the UK and abroad.

Matthew Gravelle,Partner

T: +44 (0)20 7415 2800 | E: [email protected] | Matthew Gravelle

T: +44 (0)20 7332 2475 | E: [email protected] | Andrew Vinell

A graduate of Business Management from Newcastle University, Jeremy’s early career included both serving in the British Army & working across various business sectors. Recently, he gained extensive research skills as a pivotal member of an Executive Search firm. At Brewer Morris, Jeremy provides research support for the Professional Services & Investment Banking teams.

Jeremy Wertheimer,Executive Researcher

Warren studied Business Finance at Durham University and began his career in recruitment in 2010. Initially Warren recruited into Risk Management and Regulatory Finance for the big banks before moving to a specialist Tax recruitment firm in 2013 where he focused on Indirect Tax recruitment into C&I. He joined Brewer Morris in January 2016 and focuses on mid to senior-level Indirect Tax positions across all sectors in C&I.

Warren Williams,Senior Indirect Tax Consultant - C&I

T: +44 (0)20 7332 9597 | E: [email protected] | Warren Williams

T: +44 (0)20 7415 2800 | E: [email protected] | Jeremy Wertheimer

brewermorris.com

@brewermorris

/company/brewer-morris

London T: +44 (0)20 7415 2800

Sydney T: +61 (0)2 9221 0055

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BM Indirect Tax Salary Survey and Market Report 2016

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