Is UAE’s demand boom for tax professionals only getting started?

Is UAE’s demand boom for tax professionals only getting started?

Dubai: If anyone asks about the job category with the fastest and highest hiring rates in the UAE, don’t look beyond tax auditors and specialists. The hiring process continues even as the UAE Corporate Tax formally launched on June 1, with industry sources saying there are still more positions to be filled.

Where they are not getting filled internally, businesses are contracting those tasks to outside audit firms, which are expanding their own workforce to cope with the demand rush.

At the manager level, the salary structure for a tax auditor would vary between Dh18,000 to Dh24,000 a month depending on the firm. Entry level salaries and incentives too have improved in the last 6-8 months, while candidates are lining up 10-25 per cent increases in their take-homes when they make the jump to a new employer.

So, is hiring of tax auditors in ‘surge’ mode? Shibu Abraham, Director – Human Resources at the consultancy Kreston Menon, stops short of saying that a surge is on. “There is demand for qualified and experienced tax consultants and auditors,” he said. “We have seen an increase of 10 per cent in our staff strength this year, mostly at entry and mid-level.

“We have a structured career