Page 7 - Transforming Tax Administration and Involving Stakeholders

REINVENTING THE WAY THE AUSTRALIAN
TAXATION OFFICE DOES BUSINESS

By Chris Jordan, Commissioner, Australian Taxation Office

Introduction
Until recently, it was a matter of tradition that Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
Commissioners worked their way up the ranks of the organisation before taking on the big
role. On 1 January 2013, the ATO departed from this tradition, hiring me as the first ‘outsider’.
I began my career in the 1970s as a police officer before moving into accounting and finance.
Prior to my appointment with the ATO, I worked at KPMG for 20 years, eventually overseeing
their business in the Australian state of New South Wales.
There was a compelling case for appointing ATO’s top role to somebody who had spent
most of their career in the private sector. The ATO was, at the time, isolated and insular. It
went about its work in a traditional way, gradually improving processes and procedures with
good intent. Staff were proud of, and committed to, the ATO’s role in serving the community,
but the organisation wasn’t up to speed with Australians’ changing needs as taxpayers or
how it needed to respond to transforming global business. Clients were dissatisfied with the
quality of ATO’s advice, how they handled disputes, reliability of their systems and how they
engaged with external tax professionals.
The ATO also needed to improve its stance on the manoeuvrings of multinational
organisations. At this point, multinational executives were convening with their advisers in
Europe and other places around the world, devising strategies to circumvent tax laws in
various countries. I know about these conferences because I’ve attended them at other
stages of my career.
The ATO wasn’t operating with a global world view - not enough, anyway. It was working as
it had before, addressing the behaviour of these organisations with a limited, locally-
oriented purview. To contend with organisations that can seamlessly strategise and transact
across global boundaries, it needed to address some big questions: How do we work in a
way that is just as intelligent and responsive as the taxpayers and advisors we are up against?
How do we become contemporary and agile, and remain so?

Transforming tax administration - Reinventing the ATO
For this reason, introducing an adaptive, forward-thinking approach to tax administration
was vital. Our staff’s experience at work is crucial to this transformation, and removing
unnecessary guidelines and structures that dictate how they do their jobs has an immediate

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