From the days when the tax function was viewed predominantly as a compliance exercise, to today’s era of strategic influence, its role has evolved dramatically. At the heart of this transformation is the Head of Tax – a position that has shifted from technical oversight to leadership, vision, and value creation.
For the next article in our Future of Tax series, we sat down with Dominic Mathon, Head of Tax and Treasury at RELX, to explore the changing nature of the tax function, the growing interplay with treasury and reporting, the challenges of attracting and retaining talent, and how to keep teams motivated. Dominic shares his guidance for current and aspiring Heads of Tax on how to navigate this evolution and prepare their functions for the future.
“Very few of us set out to work in tax. Most of us didn’t wake up as children dreaming of VAT returns, transfer pricing, or tax treaties. We fell into it – sometimes by accident. But what starts as a technical discipline can evolve into one of the most rewarding, challenging, and varied careers imaginable.
Today, the role of the Head of Tax is unrecognisable compared to even as little as a decade ago. It is no longer about compliance alone, nor sitting in an ‘ivory tower’ and analysing structures. Today, the role requires leadership, judgement, and connecting the tax function to the broader purpose of the organisation.
I often describe a career in tax not as a ladder but as a climbing wall. It’s not just a straight upward trajectory – you move sideways, occasionally down, and sometimes in unexpected directions that later turn out to be invaluable paths to lead you to the top. I’ve benefited enormously from those lateral moves because each gave me a distinct perspective and strengthened my judgement.
And that’s what the Head of Tax role is about. It isn’t just about knowing the rules; it’s about applying judgement in situations where there isn’t a black and white answer. It’s about understanding the wider commercial context and the requirements of your ‘customers,’ demystifying issues and helping the business navigate obstacles. In many ways, that’s where the profession has changed most. When I started, tax operated in more of a vacuum. It was respected as a complex and valuable function, but it felt quite remote from the business it served. Now, the Head of Tax is expected to be a strategic advisor at the Board table, fully embedded in the business strategy, weighing in on ESG, digital transformation, or global supply chain design.
As I see it, the purpose of the Head of Tax is twofold: first, to ensure compliance and manage risk, and second, to create value by aligning the tax function with the wider goals of the business. Balancing those two roles is the real challenge – and the real opportunity.
The overlap between tax and treasury has always been there, but it is becoming more pronounced. Treasury traditionally manages liquidity, funding, and risk. Tax ensures efficiency and compliance in the capital structures. Together, they shape how value flows through from the business to shareholders.
When I first stepped into a combined tax and treasury role, I’ll admit it was unfamiliar. But I quickly realised that leading these functions isn’t about being the deepest subject-matter expert. It’s about applying similar skill sets: clarity, judgement, and alignment. Whether it’s optimising earnings per share (EPS), managing cash flows, or structuring cross-border financing, the real task is to make sure the functions are working together in support of the business strategy.
It also helps that both teams often deal with the same fundamental questions: how do we manage risk, how do we drive efficiencies, and how do we ensure the business can make decisions with confidence?
Financial reporting is another area where I’ve seen the parallels from my time as a Group Chief Accountant. On the surface, interpreting accounting standards and policies, preparation of financial statements and reports, managing auditor relationships and such like, look quite different from tax. But many of the skills involved are strikingly similar.
Again, it’s not necessarily about synergies in the technical sense. It’s about how you manage centralised corporate functions, how you drive efficiencies, how you make sure that the things you must do (whether that’s filing tax returns or producing financial statements) get done in the most efficient manner, and how you use that foundation then to drive value and support the business.
For me, that’s the connection. Reporting, like tax compliance, is a must-do. But it’s also an opportunity to demonstrate reliability and build trust, both internally and externally. It provides a platform to demonstrate to the business that these essential processes are in safe hands, freeing up leadership time and energy for value creation.
One of the most interesting shifts in tax in recent years is how we think about talent. Technical expertise is still important, of course, but it’s no longer enough. What I really look for are so-called softer skills: curiosity, adaptability, and the ability to exercise judgement in uncertain situations.
I want people who bring different experiences to the table. That might mean they’ve worked in another industry, another geography, or even outside tax altogether. Those diverse perspectives enrich the team and challenge us to think differently.
There’s a lot of talk about the ‘tax technologist’ as the most in-demand profile, but in my experience, it isn’t about coding skills or IT expertise. It’s about mindset. Curiosity and openness to learn are far more valuable than pure technical skills. If you’re bright and willing to experiment with tools like GenAI, Alteryx or Power BI, you’ll quickly figure them out. What matters is whether you’re prepared to try.
In other words, I’d rather hire or deploy someone curious than someone who already has a technology background. Skills can be taught. Mindset is much harder to change.
Motivating tax teams is one of the toughest but most rewarding parts of the job. The volume of work never gets lighter. The number of returns and reports only goes up. And yet, people don’t join tax to spend their lives processing routine tasks.
Our job as leaders is to free people from the parts of their work that they find least stimulating and give them space to focus on the parts that matter most. That’s where automation, technology, and shared services come in, and it involves fostering a safe culture wherein team members are encouraged to talk about the parts of their job that they like least, and which could be done differently. But it’s also about being creative in how we structure teams.
For example, I like to think in terms of 80/20 – encouraging people to spend part of their time (the ‘20%’) on projects outside their usual remit. Or when someone goes on sabbatical or maternity leave, instead of hiring a direct like-for-like backfill, I’ll redistribute responsibilities to others in the team where appropriate and the appetite exists. That way, people can stretch into new areas, and we create a ripple of development opportunities throughout the function.
Another powerful motivator is ‘purpose’, and there is one project I’m particularly proud of. Recently, my team worked with our LexisNexis business and government officials to consolidate and translate the Ethiopian tax laws. Until then, accessing the law was incredibly challenging – you might find a hard copy of the latest Finance Act if you were lucky, but you’d have no idea what it replaced.
We pulled together the legislation, translated it into both English and the local language, and made it publicly available on the Ministry of Finance website. It cost us relatively little, aside from my team’s time, but the impact is huge in terms of encouraging investment, supporting development, and promoting the rule of law.
Now, you might ask, ‘Why would an in-house tax team take this on?’. First, it aligned perfectly with our corporate purpose of promoting the rule of law. But second, it was incredibly motivating. It made a real, tangible difference, and when you can show your team that their work matters, that can be worth more than a salary bump.
If I had to give advice, here are a few principles that stand out for me:
Ultimately, leading a tax function is about more than delivering the ‘must-do’ activities. It’s about building a culture where people feel challenged, supported, and inspired.
There’s a lot of talk about whether AI will replace tax professionals, my answer is simple: “no.” If anything, it will make our jobs more important and more interesting.
Yes, compliance requirements are only going one way – up. And yes, budgets are under pressure. But technology gives us the chance to square that circle, to reduce cost burdens, deliver efficiency, and free up time for value-added work.
The key is to be iterative and don’t try to boil the ocean. Pick a handful of use cases, prove the value, and then expand. That’s how we’ve been able to reduce costs and increase output in my function for several years now. Then, supplementing in-house technology with readily available tools like Tolley+ AI can not only boost productivity and save costs but also improve the quality of advice to the business.
But the real future of tax isn’t about technology, it’s about people. It’s not what you know, but how you apply it. It’s how you understand the people you’re dealing with, and about thriving in a culture of continuous change.
Thirty years ago, many of us wouldn’t have been ready for this world. But today’s tax professionals are more adaptable, more commercially minded, and more technologically fluent than ever. That’s why I’m optimistic. The evolution of the tax function is not about it being replaced; it’s about being elevated.
And that, to me, is what makes this profession so exciting.”
If you would like to take part in the Future of Tax discussion series, get in touch and let’s explore a conversation from your perspective.
