Fractional head of tax vs a full-time hire: what each costs in the UAE

A full-time head of tax in Dubai costs a salary of AED 40,000 to AED 60,000 or more a month, according to one 2025 recruiter salary guide, plus health insurance, gratuity and often a bonus. A fractional head of tax costs a fixed annual fee for an agreed scope and level of access. For a family office or group that needs senior tax judgement regularly but not every day, the fractional route often costs less and gives access to a wider bench of specialists.

The right answer depends on how much senior tax work you have. Here are the costs on each side, and the questions that decide it.

What does a full-time head of tax cost in Dubai?

Published salary data for senior tax roles in the UAE is thin, so treat any single figure with care. Two 2025 recruiter sources give a sense of the range:

Charterhouse’s figures are monthly gross salaries including housing and transport allowances. Charterhouse doesn’t publish a separate head of tax line, so the head of tax range comes from Alchemy Search, which doesn’t say whether allowances are included. On Alchemy’s range, a head of tax costs roughly AED 480,000 to AED 720,000 a year in salary alone, and more for someone with international experience at the level a wealthy family or multinational group needs. All of these are 2025 figures.

What costs come on top of salary?

Salary is the visible part, but a UAE employer also carries:

• End-of-service gratuity. For a foreign full-time employee with at least a year’s service, the UAE Labour Law sets it at 21 days’ basic salary for each of the first five years and 30 days’ for each later year, based on the last basic salary and capped at two years’ pay (Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, Art. 51).
• Health insurance, which employers in Dubai, including its free zones and the DIFC, must provide and pay for (Dubai Law No. 11 of 2013, Arts 4 and 10).
• Any bonus and benefits agreed in the employment contract.
• Recruitment fees, if you use a search firm.
• Training and subscriptions to keep a senior tax professional current, including databases and professional memberships.
• Management time to supervise and appraise the role.

None of these is unusual, but together they add a real share to the salary figure. That is why finance teams usually budget on fully loaded cost.

What are the less visible costs of a full-time hire?

Two problems come up repeatedly with a single in-house head of tax in a family office or mid-sized group.

The first is under-use: many family offices have enough senior tax work for a few days a month, plus spikes around transactions or relocations. A full-time hire at the right level may spend much of the week on work a junior could do, or move on because the role isn’t stretching enough.

The second is coverage, because one person can’t be expert in every country and every tax. A family with UAE companies, a UK trust, European property and US-connected family members needs specialist input on each. An in-house head of tax will still need to buy that advice, so the external advisory bill doesn’t disappear.

What does a fractional head of tax cost?

A fractional head of tax is paid a fixed fee for an agreed scope. There are two common structures:

• a set number of days per month at an agreed rate;
• an annual retainer covering ongoing advice and routine correspondence, with agreed access and capacity.

Within, by PBF, is fractional tax advisory: your tax team, within your business. It works on the second basis, an annual retainer, with a senior tax team alongside your accountants, lawyers and trustees, and your mandate sets out the countries, entities and ongoing work covered before work starts. See how Within works.

The comparison isn’t only salary against fee. A retainer replaces some of the advisory work that would otherwise be bought piecemeal from several firms, and it gives access to a team rather than one individual.

How do the two options compare?

A full-time hire makes more sense when tax is a daily operational function, for example a large group with many entities filing in many countries, or a family office with a continuous flow of transactions. In those cases a fractional head of tax can still support the in-house lead with specialist depth, and review the positions behind the returns.

How do you decide which is right?

Four questions usually settle it.

1. How many days a month of senior tax work do you have? Count the decisions, reviews and authority questions that need a senior person, not the routine compliance.
2. How many countries and taxes are involved? The more there are, the more a single hire depends on outside specialists anyway.
3. What are you spending on tax advice today, and who decides what to buy? If nobody senior controls the advisory spend, it tends to grow without a plan.
4. What happens if your head of tax leaves? Families value continuity, and a team-based arrangement reduces the risk of losing the person who knows everything.

Our article on when a family office needs a head of tax covers the triggers in more detail, and the pillar guide to the fractional model explains what the role includes.