16th International ATAX Tax Administration Conference:

On 1 March 2024 Mr Rob Heferen took up his role as Commissioner of Taxation to lead the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Rob has dedicated his career to the Australian Public Service for the last 35 years, beginning in 1989 as a graduate at the Australian Customs Service. Over 35 years, he has accumulated diverse experience across policy development and program delivery in a range of portfolios, as well as representing Australia in international forums including the UN, the IEA and the OECD. For almost 20 years Rob’s interest and expertise in economics and tax policy led him to various roles in the Australian Taxation Office and Commonwealth Treasury, including leading the Secretariat for the Australia’s Future Tax System Review (the Henry Tax Review) and culminating in his role as Deputy Secretary, Revenue Group at the Commonwealth Treasury between 2011-2016, with responsibility for tax policy, tax legislation and revenue forecasting.

Rob’s other Senior Executive roles include Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare; Deputy Secretary of Higher Education, Research and International in the Department of Education, Skills and Employment; Deputy Secretary of Energy at the Department of the Environment and Energy (where he served as Australia’s representative on the International Energy Agency’s Governing Board); and Deputy Secretary of Indigenous Affairs at the Department Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. 

Rob is a proven leader of people, with an open, collaborative and authentic style and strong record of achievement in leading organisations to help shape and deliver on Government priorities.

Rob has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Tasmania, and a Graduate Diploma of Economics from the Australian National University. 

Peter Mersi was appointed Commissioner and Chief Executive of Inland Revenue in July 2022.

Prior to this, Peter was the Secretary and Chief Executive for Transport (2016-2022), Chief Executive of Land Information New Zealand (2012 – 2016) and spent six months as the Acting Secretary and Chief Executive of the Department of Internal Affairs (2011-2012).

Peter has held senior leadership roles in Inland Revenue and the Treasury, where he spent 14 years primarily working on social policy and the public management system. He has also worked for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Department of Labour, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Bank of New Zealand.

Peter has an economics degree from Victoria University of Wellington.

Along with Gaye Searancke, the Chief Executive of Land Information New Zealand, Peter is the Co-Chair of Papa Pounamu, an initiative by Public Sector Chief Executives to support and grow diversity and inclusion in the public sector.

Ruth has recently been appointed to the role of Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman. This is an independent statutory role contributing to the improvement of the administration of taxation and superannuation and supporting taxpayers and tax practitioners with resolution of their complaints to the ATO or Tax Practitioners’ Board.

Ruth brings a wealth of experience in tax, public administration, complaints management and dispute resolution, having spent more than 30 years in various senior leadership positions across the public sector in Australia and the United Kingdom (UK).

Ruth was previously a Director General and Tax Commissioner of His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in the UK, Head of Profession for operational delivery in the UK Civil Service and Deputy CEO of Jobcentre Plus, the UK employment service and welfare service delivery agency.

In moving to Australia, Ruth joined EY Advisory as the lead partner in Human Services, providing professional services to Government and community sector clients, including publishing guidance on complaints management and supporting the National Redress Scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.

Most recently, Ruth spent over three years in NSW Government, as a Deputy Secretary at Education and then leading the delivery of public sector reform in the NSW Premier’s Department.

Ruth was awarded the CBE in the UK for her public service in reducing unemployment during the GFC.

Professor Alarie's work explores how artificial intelligence can be applied to legal and tax problems. He teaches tax law and conducts research on the potential impacts of AI on legal practice and tax administration.

In 2015, Professor Alarie co-founded Blue J, an AI-powered tax technology company. Under his leadership, Blue J has developed Ask Blue J, a state-of-the-art generative AI platform lauded by Tax Notes as "TaxGPT." Ask Blue J is acclaimed for its unparalleled accuracy and ease of use. Ask Blue J has been adopted by several of the world's leading tax advisory firms and is widely-regarded as the most reliable LLM-based tax research tool. Ask Blue J currently covers North American tax law (Canada and the US), and will soon become available for the UK.

An educational documentary, The A.I. Taxman (2022), recounts the early story of Blue J and outlines a vision of how artificial intelligence is going to affect tax law in the coming decades.

In an award-winning book, The Legal Singularity: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Law Radically Better (2023), Professor Alarie (with co-author Abdi Aidid) argues that AI has the potential to revolutionize the legal landscape, making it radically more efficient and accessible.

Professor Alarie is a regular contributor to Tax Notes, where he explores the ethical and practical implications of AI in tax practice. He is also a frequently invited keynote speaker, often addressing academic and professional groups around the world on AI, taxation, and the future of law.

Penelope Tuck is Professor of Accounting, Public Finance and Policy at Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham UK. Prior to joining Birmingham Business School, she has held academic positions at Warwick Business School and at the Universities of Southampton and Buckingham. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and a Chartered Tax Advisor. Penelope’s research areas are accounting in a public policy context, and taxation policy and practice from a social and institutional perspective. She has published in leading accounting journals including the British Accounting Review, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Accounting Organizations and Society, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, and Accounting and Business Research.  Previously Penelope was Head of the Department of Accounting and Director of Research for the Birmingham Business School.

Nina E. Olson is the Executive Director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, a nonprofit that works to advance taxpayer rights in the United States and internationally.  From March 2001 to July 2019, Nina served as the National Taxpayer Advocate, leading the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent organization within the Internal Revenue Service dedicated to assisting taxpayers resolve their problems with the IRS and making administrative and legislative recommendations to mitigate those problems systemically.  Before serving as the National Taxpayer Advocate, Nina founded and directed The Community Tax Law Project, the first independent Low Income Taxpayer Clinic in the US.  She also maintained a private legal practice, representing taxpayers in disputes with the IRS.

Jeremy Hirschhorn was appointed to the Second Commissioner role from 16 April 2020. He has overall responsibility for the ATO’s Client Engagement Group, which fosters willing participation in Australia’s tax and super systems through well-designed client experiences.

Jeremy has more than 20 years' experience in roles managing complex tax matters.

As Deputy Commissioner of Public Groups & International from April 2015, Jeremy was responsible for ensuring that the largest Australian and multinational companies were meeting their corporate tax obligations and providing the Australian community with confidence that these large companies were being held to account.

Jeremy also worked as Chief Tax Counsel, with responsibility for the provision of the ATO’s legal advice in relation to interpretation of the tax and super laws, when he joined the ATO in August 2014.

Prior to joining the ATO, Jeremy was a senior partner in KPMG’s tax practice.

Jeremy holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws from the University of NSW. He is a Chartered Tax Adviser and Chartered Accountant.

Professor Book is the John H. Buhsmer, Esq. ’84 Endowed Professor of Law at the Villanova Charles Widger School of Law. While at Villanova Professor Book has served as Director of the Federal Tax Clinic, Director of the Graduate Tax Program, and Director of the Online Graduate Tax Program. He also served as a Professor in Residence with the IRS, Taxpayer Advocate Service in 2019.

Professor Book is a national authority on tax procedure and tax administration.  He is the successor author for the Thomson Reuters treatise IRS Practice and Procedure and the cofounder and one of the primary bloggers at Procedurally Taxing. He has written numerous law review articles and three research reports submitted to Congress on behalf of the Taxpayer Advocate Service, including a 2019 report containing a series of proposals to improve the administration and delivery of refundable credits.

Book has testified before Congress on the fair administration of our nation’s tax laws and on the future of tax administration.  In 2007 he won the ABA Tax Section Janet Spragens Pro Bono Award, and Book continues to directly assist low income and underrepresented taxpayers through pro bono litigation. In 2018 he was the inaugural winner of the Diane Ambler Award for faculty curricular innovation for his work in creating the Villanova Online Graduate Tax Program with his colleague Joy Mullane. In 2021, Book won the Diane Ambler Faculty Scholarship Impact Award for scholarship that has had a significant impact on the law, the academy, the legal profession or policy debates.

Book is a fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel, Vice President (Publications)of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation, and Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Taxpayer Rights.

Kerrie Sadiq is a Professor at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia. She holds a BCom, LLB (Hons), LLM, and PhD. Originally qualifying as a Barrister at Law, Kerrie is currently a Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) as designated by the Taxation Institute of Australia, a CPA, and a CA. Kerrie is an international tax scholar specifically known for her work in base erosion and profit shifting, transfer pricing, thin capitalisation, tax expenditures, and capital gains tax. She is co-editor of the Australian Tax Review, an internationally recognized leading academic tax journal, and is an author of over 100 publications in both Australian and international journals and books. Previous visiting appointments include universities in South Africa, New Zealand, Canada, and Austria. Throughout her career, she has contributed to Australian Government Senate Inquiries and Board of Taxation Reviews of tax policy. Kerrie is currently undertaking a four-year research-focused Future Fellowship awarded by the Australian Research Council.

Paul has over 25 years of experience as an accounting practitioner, educator, and researcher. Paul's educational expertise concentrates on developing curriculum and teaching approaches for management/accounting courses in MBA, coursework Masters, and Bachelor Programs. Paul has also had previous involvement in developing and delivering resources for the CA Program.

Paul's research focuses on accounting, management control, and financial crime. Paul uses interview accounts and case studies to better understand drivers of illegitimate employee and business conduct, and identify practices that can better prevent, detect and address such conduct. Paul's current research agenda includes an Australian Research Council funded study into offender thinking and behaviour in serious occupational fraud. Paul's research has been published extensively in leading international academic journals, and has featured in a number of industry keynote presentations.

Paul has been recognised for his teaching and research via awards received from the International Federation of Accountants, Emerald Publishers, the AGSM, the UNSW Business School and the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand. 

Paul is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants ANZ, and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. With his strong industry connections and focus, Paul is a passionate advocate for impactful knowledge exchange that improves business thinking and practice. This is evidenced by Paul's involvement as an academic partner in McGrathNicol's Financial Crime Exchange, which advances the latest thinking on reducing business risks and impacts of financial crime.

Fahim leads BDO’s Data and AI service offering and is a Professor of Practice at UNSW. He has over 15 years’ experience across the areas of operational and commercial analysis, strategy, and stakeholder engagement. He is a sought after thought leader on data analytics and AI in Australia and has spoken to numerous high-impact national and global events. 

He is particularly interested in the identification and analysis of key drivers for organisations, and the development of new insights to create value. He is passionate about helping managers and executives make informed decisions on complex issues.

Fahim was recognised by the Australian Financial Review as a BOSS Young Executive of the Year for 2021.

In his role at UNSW Fahim focuses on developing and implementing the UNSW’s Accounting, Audit and Tax Education Strategy, integrating data analytics, AI and insights into all relevant accounting, tax and business courses and programs.