Looking for a new tax role can feel strange when you’re already doing well. You might have a strong client portfolio, good technical knowledge, and a team that trusts you.

You might also know there’s a better fit out there: more advisory work, clearer progression, broader client exposure, or a team structure that gives you room to develop.

That’s often where the interview becomes difficult. In Broadgate’s experience, good candidates don’t struggle because they lack experience, but rather, they struggle because they haven’t had to explain that experience for a while.

If you’re a tax manager currently weighing up a career move, Broadgate’s Amanda Dolan has put together this handy list of tips, built with fresh insights from our latest hiring mandates. Check it out below.

1. Prepare examples where you had to use judgement

By the time you’re at the manager level, firms want to understand how you think when the answer needs care.

Before an interview, we recommend preparing two or three examples of work that involved risk, pressure, client sensitivity, or a difficult recommendation.

For corporate tax candidates, that might include group restructuring, transaction support, tax accounting, R&D, capital allowances, transfer pricing, or complex compliance reviews.

For private client tax candidates, that might include succession planning, trusts, estate planning, residence, domicile, remittance basis, CGT, IHT, or owner-managed business advice.

The best examples explain the decision process, like:

  • What was the client trying to achieve?

  • What information did you need?

  • What risks did you flag?

  • Who did you involve?

  • How did you explain the options?

  • What did you recommend?

That kind of answer helps an interviewer see how you work, rather than only what you know.

2. Be clear about the advisory work you want

A lot of candidates say they want more advisory work. It’s a fair answer, but it needs detail.

Advisory work can mean many things. It can refer to spotting planning points during compliance work, drafting advice, joining client meetings, handling sensitive conversations, or managing the whole piece from first question to final recommendation.

A stronger answer sounds like this:

“I’ve managed a compliance-heavy portfolio, but the work I’ve enjoyed most has been advising owner-managed businesses on extraction, succession, and restructuring. I’m looking for a role where that kind of advisory work forms a larger part of the week.”

That not only gives the interviewer something useful, but it also helps them understand whether the role can give you what you’re looking for.

3. Build your portfolio story

Tax manager interviews often come back to one question: what can this person own? It’s largely because the same Job title can mean different things across different firms. One manager may run client relationships and review complex advisory work, while another might focus on delivery inside a larger team.

It’s worth preparing a simple, factual summary of your current portfolio. Think about:

  • Who are your clients?

  • How many clients do you manage?

  • What’s the split between compliance and advisory work?

  • Do you review work or prepare it?

  • Do you manage fees?

  • Do you lead client meetings?

  • Do you support junior staff

  • Which sectors or client types do you know best?

This helps the interviewer place your experience.

It also stops you underselling yourself. Some candidates have more ownership than they realise, but they describe it in a way that sounds too narrow.

4. Talk about clients like people, not files

Client ownership is one of the clearest signs of manager-level readiness. That doesn’t mean you need to have won every piece of work yourself. It means you can show how you build trust, explain technical points, and keep people informed.

We recommend preparing examples of client conversations where the answer needed careful handling.

This could include a client pushing for a deadline that created risk. It could involve a client misunderstanding their position. It could be a private client dealing with family wealth, succession, or estate planning. It could be a corporate client trying to balance tax, cash flow, and commercial priorities.

A good answer explains how you made the advice clear, what you did to manage expectations, and how you kept the relationship steady.

5. Know what’s changing in your area of tax

Strong candidates understand the pressure points affecting their specialism.

For private client tax, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is a clear example. HMRC guidance says sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 in the 2024 to 2025 tax year need to use MTD from 6 April 2026. The threshold moves to £30,000 from 6 April 2027 and £20,000 from 6 April 2028. 

That creates more than a software conversation. Clients will need support with records, habits, deadlines, and understanding their tax position during the year.

For corporate tax, Pillar Two has created new reporting demands for in-scope groups. HMRC guidance says the filing member will need to submit a UK Pillar 2 Self-Assessment return and a GloBE Information Return for each accounting period where the group is in scope.  

You don’t need to claim experience you don’t have, but you do need to show that you’re paying attention to the broader regulatory landscape.

A good interview answer might sound like this:

“MTD changes the rhythm of private client work. Advisers will need to help affected clients think about records and deadlines during the year, rather than dealing with everything at the end.”

6. Prepare evidence of how you support junior staff

People management can be the part that candidates often forget to prepare for. They expect the interview to focus on technical work, then give short answers when asked about team support.

At the manager level, reviewing work is one part of the job. Firms also want to know how you help people improve, how you manage pressure, and how you keep standards consistent.

Prepare examples that show:

  • How you review junior work.

  • How you give feedback.

  • How you spot when someone needs support.

  • How you allocate work across deadlines.

  • How you handle mistakes.

  • How you help someone understand the principle behind the correction.

A useful example might involve a junior colleague who kept missing the same issue. Did you rewrite the work yourself, or did you help them understand the point?

That answer gives the interviewer a better sense of how you manage.

7. Be honest about what you want next

Candidates often feel pressure to sound open to everything, which can make the interview harder than it needs to be. Be clear about what matters to you. This might be advisory exposure, client type, team size, location, hybrid working, progression, study support, management responsibility, or the balance between compliance and advisory work.

A private client candidate who wants complex advisory work needs a different role from someone who wants a broad portfolio with some planning around the edges. A corporate tax candidate who wants transaction exposure may need a different team from someone who enjoys compliance management and tax reporting.

Both paths can be good. The important thing is knowing which one fits you.

8. Ask questions that help you assess the role

Good questions change the quality of an interview. They help you understand the job properly and show your prospective employer that you’re thinking like a manager.

Some useful questions include:

  • “What would success look like in the first six months?”

  • “How is advisory work allocated across the team?”

  • “What level of client ownership would this person have?”

  • “How is review work split between managers and senior managers?”

  • “Where does the team need more support?”

  • “What kind of tax work is growing across the client base?”

They’re simple, but they open up the right kind of conversation, and they also help you work out whether the role matches what you want next.

Support from Broadgate

If you’re considering your next move in corporate tax, private client tax, or mixed tax, Amanda Dolan can talk you through the market and help you prepare for the right opportunity. Get in touch with Amanda directly for a confidential conversation: Amanda.Dolan@broadgate.com.