How to Apply to ATO

15 min read Last updated April 20, 2026 1 open positions
Blake Crosley
Blake Crosley Researched using publicly available information, hiring data, and ATS analysis.

Key Takeaways

  • The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is the federal revenue collection and tax administration agency, a non-corporate Commonwealth entity in the Treasury portfolio, with national headquarters in Canberra and major sites in Melbourne (Box Hill), Sydney (Hurstville and Parramatta), Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, and Townsville; total headcount exceeds twenty-one thousand.
  • The Commissioner of Taxation is Rob Heferen, who took up the role in March 2024 after the long tenure of Chris Jordan AO (2013-2024); current priorities include the Tax Avoidance Taskforce on multinationals, OECD Pillar Two GloBE implementation, post-COVID debt recovery, and rebuilding professional trust after the PwC tax leaks scandal.
  • Apply through APSJobs.gov.au, the centralised Australian Public Service recruitment portal; ato.gov.au/careers mirrors postings, but APSJobs is the canonical application channel, and merit pools created from a single process can lead to placement against future vacancies.
  • Roles are mapped to standard APS classifications (APS 1-6, EL 1, EL 2, SES 1-3) with pay points set under the ATO Enterprise Agreement; superannuation is approximately 13.5 per cent (above the legislated Superannuation Guarantee), with PSS for pre-2005 members and PSSAP for newer hires.
  • Most roles require Australian citizenship and an AGSVA security clearance at Baseline, NV1, or NV2; Baseline is the fastest, NV1 commonly takes six to twelve months, and clearance status visible on the CV materially shortens time-to-start.
  • Interviews are structured, behavioural, panel-based, and conducted in STAR format against a written rubric tied to the APS Integrated Leadership System (ILS) capabilities for the classification; prepare three to five concrete stories that cover technical judgment, integrity, results, relationships, and communication.
  • The dominant union is the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), which negotiates the ATO Enterprise Agreement; candidates should expect Enterprise Agreement pay bands rather than freely negotiated salaries for most roles.
  • Pre-engagement checks include citizenship verification, a National Police Check, AGSVA security clearance, referee checks, and pre-engagement health declarations where applicable; total time-to-start is commonly six to sixteen weeks for cleared candidates and longer where a fresh NV1 or NV2 is required.

About ATO

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is the federal government revenue collection and tax administration agency for the Commonwealth of Australia, established as a statutory body within the Treasury portfolio and operating as a non-corporate Commonwealth entity under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013. The agency collects approximately five hundred billion dollars annually for the Commonwealth across income tax for individuals and businesses, the Goods and Services Tax (GST), excise on alcohol, tobacco, and fuel, superannuation guarantee compliance and SuperStream administration, and an expanding remit in property-related federal taxes; it also administers Single Touch Payroll (STP), supports the Tax Practitioners Board on practitioner regulation, runs cybercrime and tax fraud investigation capabilities, and operates one of Australia's largest in-house data analytics and machine-learning programs to power compliance, debt, and risk work. The ATO is led by the Commissioner of Taxation, currently Rob Heferen, who took up the role in March 2024 after the long tenure of Chris Jordan AO (2013-2024); Heferen joined from the Department of Industry, Science and Resources where he served as Secretary, and his early agenda has emphasised the Tax Avoidance Taskforce work on multinationals and high-wealth individuals, post-COVID debt recovery, the practical implementation of the OECD Pillar Two GloBE fifteen per cent global minimum tax in Australia, the Modernisation of Trust Administration program, and rebuilding professional trust with the tax advisory community after the PwC tax leaks scandal of 2023-2024 that triggered referrals to the New South Wales Police and the Australian Federal Police and a wider review of tax practitioner regulation. National headquarters is in Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory, with a very large operational presence in Melbourne (notably the Box Hill site), substantial sites in Sydney (Hurstville and Parramatta), Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Townsville, and a long tail of smaller offices spanning more than thirty locations nationally; total ongoing and non-ongoing headcount sits comfortably above twenty-one thousand, making the ATO one of the largest agencies in the Australian Public Service (APS). The workforce spans tax professionals (CPA Australia, Chartered Accountants ANZ, and the Tax Institute of Australia all have strong representation), corporate tax lawyers, economists, data scientists, software engineers and platform specialists, customer-service staff in major call centres, debt-recovery officers, audit specialists in the Public Groups and Private Wealth and Small Business areas, and investigators across the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce. Roles are mapped to standard APS classifications: APS 1 to APS 6 cover entry through experienced specialist (broadly fifty thousand to ninety-five thousand dollars), Executive Level 1 covers senior policy and specialist work (broadly one hundred and twenty to one hundred and forty thousand), Executive Level 2 covers senior management (broadly one hundred and fifty-five to one hundred and eighty-five thousand), and the Senior Executive Service tiers (SES Bands 1, 2, and 3) sit above two hundred thousand dollars; specialist titles such as Tax Counsel and Senior Tax Counsel sit alongside the standard structure. Benefits reflect APS norms: superannuation is paid at approximately thirteen and a half per cent (above the legislated Superannuation Guarantee), members hired before 2005 are typically in the Public Sector Superannuation Scheme (PSS, a defined-benefit scheme) and newer hires sit in the PSSAP defined-contribution scheme, flexible work arrangements are widely available, regional roles exist, and many positions require an Australian Government Security Vetting Agency (AGSVA) clearance at Baseline, Negative Vetting 1 (NV1), or Negative Vetting 2 (NV2), with NV1 commonly taking six to twelve months. The dominant union is the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), which negotiates the ATO Enterprise Agreement and has been periodically active around pay disputes and workplace conditions. Candidates considering the ATO should expect a serious, capability-driven, accountable employer with public-sector pay norms below private-practice equivalents but with strong superannuation, leave, and tenure characteristics, a meaningful security and integrity overlay, and a compliance and policy mission that is genuinely consequential for the Australian economy.

Application Process

  1. 1
    Search and apply through APSJobs

    Search and apply through APSJobs.gov.au, the Australian Government's centralised recruitment portal for the Australian Public Service; ATO requisitions are also mirrored on ato.gov.au/careers, but APSJobs is the canonical posting surface and is where merit-based selection processes are formally advertised under the Public Service Act 1999.

  2. 2
    Create a single APSJobs candidate account so you can apply across multiple ATO a

    Create a single APSJobs candidate account so you can apply across multiple ATO and other APS agency vacancies, set up job alerts by classification (APS 4, APS 5, EL 1, etc.) and location, and reuse your contact details, work-rights declaration, and supporting documents; ATO advertises ongoing, non-ongoing, and specified-term opportunities and uses merit pools to fill multiple roles from a single process.

  3. 3
    Read the role's Candidate Information Pack and Position Description carefully; A

    Read the role's Candidate Information Pack and Position Description carefully; ATO listings typically include the classification, location options, security clearance requirement, indicative salary range under the ATO Enterprise Agreement, the specific work-level standards expected, and the assessment criteria the panel will use, often expressed against the APS Integrated Leadership System (ILS) capabilities.

  4. 4
    Prepare a written application that addresses the assessment criteria in the form

    Prepare a written application that addresses the assessment criteria in the format requested; ATO commonly asks for a one-page or two-page pitch (often called a 'statement of claims' or 'one-page pitch') aligned to the ILS capabilities and the role's technical requirements, plus a current CV and contact details for two referees including your most recent direct manager.

  5. 5
    Submit before the closing date (almost always at 11:30 pm Australian Eastern tim

    Submit before the closing date (almost always at 11:30 pm Australian Eastern time on the published closing day); APSJobs does not accept late applications and ATO panels work to a documented timetable, with acknowledgement typically issued automatically and a recruitment outcome update sent through APSJobs as the process progresses.

  6. 6
    Shortlisted candidates are invited to one or more structured assessments: a pane

    Shortlisted candidates are invited to one or more structured assessments: a panel interview (commonly two to three panel members including the hiring delegate and at least one independent panel member), a written exercise or work-sample task tailored to the role (a tax technical scenario for audit and compliance roles, a coding or data exercise for technology and analytics roles, a policy or briefing exercise for EL 1 and EL 2 roles), and for some roles a presentation or case study.

  7. 7
    Successful candidates progress to pre-engagement checks: an Australian citizensh

    Successful candidates progress to pre-engagement checks: an Australian citizenship check (the ATO is generally a citizenship-only employer because of the security clearance requirement), a National Police Check, an AGSVA security clearance at Baseline, NV1, or NV2 depending on the role (Baseline is fastest at a few weeks; NV1 commonly takes six to twelve months; NV2 longer), pre-engagement health declarations where applicable, and reference checks with your nominated referees.

  8. 8
    An offer is issued by the delegate in writing and confirms the classification (f

    An offer is issued by the delegate in writing and confirms the classification (for example, APS 6 or EL 1), the salary point on the relevant pay band of the ATO Enterprise Agreement, the location, the engagement type (ongoing, non-ongoing for a specified term, or non-ongoing for a specified task), the probation period (commonly six months for ongoing engagements), and any flexible work arrangement; the ATO also advises whether the role is being filled from a merit pool, which can mean placement against a future vacancy if the immediate role has been filled.

Resume Tips for ATO

recommended

Map your CV explicitly to the APS Integrated Leadership System (ILS) capabilitie

Map your CV explicitly to the APS Integrated Leadership System (ILS) capabilities for the classification you are applying at; the ATO panel scores against work-level standards (Shapes Strategic Thinking, Achieves Results, Cultivates Productive Working Relationships, Exemplifies Personal Drive and Integrity, Communicates with Influence) and a CV that demonstrates these with concrete examples performs better than a generic chronological list of duties.

recommended

Lead with measurable impact in tax, compliance, policy, technology, or service d

Lead with measurable impact in tax, compliance, policy, technology, or service delivery: revenue recovered through audit, dollar value of disputed assessments resolved, percentage uplift in compliance rates, number of taxpayers supported, processing time reduction, system migrations delivered to scope and budget, or analytics models that improved targeting; the ATO is a results-oriented agency and quantified outcomes carry weight.

recommended

Make security clearance status visible at the top of the CV

Make security clearance status visible at the top of the CV. If you currently hold an AGSVA Baseline, NV1, or NV2 clearance, state it clearly with the year of grant; if you hold Australian citizenship and are clearance-eligible, say so; this materially shortens the time to start and is one of the first things a recruiter looks for.

recommended

Show explicit familiarity with the relevant legislative and regulatory environme

Show explicit familiarity with the relevant legislative and regulatory environment: the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 and 1997, the Tax Administration Act 1953, the GST Act, the Superannuation Guarantee Act, the Public Service Act 1999, the Public Governance Performance and Accountability Act 2013, the Privacy Act 1988, the APS Code of Conduct, and the ATO's own integrity and confidentiality framework under the Taxation Administration Act secrecy provisions.

recommended

For tax technical and audit roles, list your professional credentials prominentl

For tax technical and audit roles, list your professional credentials prominently: CPA Australia (CPA), Chartered Accountant ANZ (CA), Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) through the Tax Institute, admission as a legal practitioner in an Australian jurisdiction for tax counsel roles, and any specialisations such as international tax, transfer pricing, GST, indirect tax, or superannuation; PIA (Public Sector) and FINSIA membership also help.

recommended

For technology and data roles, list the actual stacks the ATO uses or values: SA

For technology and data roles, list the actual stacks the ATO uses or values: SAP for the integrated revenue management environment, Oracle and Microsoft database environments, AWS and Azure cloud (the ATO operates a hybrid cloud strategy), Python and R for analytics, SAS for legacy analytics and risk modelling, Tableau and Power BI for visualisation, Salesforce for some service-delivery surfaces, Java and .NET for systems work, and modern DevSecOps practice including IRAP-aligned controls.

recommended

Demonstrate experience with secure-by-design and Protective Security Policy Fram

Demonstrate experience with secure-by-design and Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF) controls for technology and information-handling roles: handling of OFFICIAL, OFFICIAL: Sensitive, and PROTECTED information, IRAP assessments, the Information Security Manual (ISM), the Essential Eight, and the ATO's responsibilities under the Privacy Act and the secrecy provisions of the Taxation Administration Act.

recommended

Keep the document ATS-friendly

Keep the document ATS-friendly. APSJobs accepts standard PDF and DOCX, but the document is also read by panel members; use a clean chronological or hybrid layout, avoid columns, text boxes, and graphical templates that confuse parsers, list Australian work rights and citizenship at the top, and constrain length to two pages for APS 4 to EL 1 and three pages for EL 2 and SES.

ATS System: APSJobs.gov.au (Australian Public Service Commission recruitment portal)

The ATO's primary recruitment surface is APSJobs.gov.au, the centralised job board for the entire Australian Public Service operated by the Australian Public Service Commission. Roles are also visible on ato.gov.au/careers, but APSJobs is the canonical posting and application channel for merit-based selection under the Public Service Act 1999. Some specialist back-office HR functions reference vendor systems (for example BambooHR appears in third-party registries against the ATO entry), but candidate-facing applications flow through APSJobs and the agency's own APSJobs-integrated workflow rather than a private ATS like Workday or PageUp.

  • Create one APSJobs profile with verified contact details, citizenship and work-rights status, and any current AGSVA clearance details; this profile is reused across every Commonwealth agency that posts on APSJobs.
  • Set targeted job alerts by agency (Australian Taxation Office), classification (APS 1-6, EL 1, EL 2, SES), location, and security clearance level; ATO posts in waves, especially for graduate, EL 1 specialist, and analytics campaigns.
  • Upload your CV and supporting statement as separate, properly named PDF or DOCX files (for example 'Surname-Firstname-CV.pdf') so the panel can find them quickly during shortlisting.
  • Treat the assessment criteria, work-level standards, and ILS capabilities listed in the Candidate Information Pack as the rubric the panel will score against; address them explicitly in your statement of claims or pitch.
  • Watch for merit pools: APSJobs vacancies often state that a merit pool may be created, which means a successful but not appointed candidate can be placed against a similar vacancy for up to eighteen months without re-applying.
  • Do not exceed page or word limits stated in the application instructions; ATO panels routinely refuse to read past a stated cap, and exceeding the cap is read as a failure to follow direction.

Interview Culture

ATO interviews are structured, panel-based, capability-anchored, and notably formal compared with the private sector and most professional-services tax practices, reflecting the agency's status as a federally accountable, merit-selection APS employer. Almost every interview is conducted by a panel of two or three people, scored against a written rubric tied to the role's assessment criteria and the APS Integrated Leadership System (ILS) capabilities for the classification, and documented to a standard that allows the selection report to withstand internal review and external audit. The dominant interview format is behavioural in the STAR structure (Situation, Task, Action, Result); panellists will press on the Action and Result components and will not award full marks for hypothetical or strategic answers. For audit, compliance, and tax-technical roles, expect detailed probing of how you have navigated technical positions: how you identified a substantive Part IVA general anti-avoidance issue, how you handled an aggressive tax planning arrangement under the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law (MAAL) or Diverted Profits Tax (DPT), how you applied the Pillar Two GloBE rules in practice, how you managed a difficult taxpayer or representative, how you structured a position paper, and how you weighed litigation risk against settlement under the ATO Code of Settlement. For Tax Counsel and senior technical roles, panels will press on case law fluency, statutory interpretation, the practical use of ATO public rulings and Practical Compliance Guidelines, and your ability to write a clear technical position. For technology, data, and platform roles, expect questions on system reliability under load, secure-by-design patterns, IRAP-aligned controls, the Essential Eight, handling of taxpayer information under the secrecy provisions, agile delivery in a regulated environment, and how you have de-risked a major release. For service-delivery and call-centre roles, expect role-play, hypothetical taxpayer scenarios, and probing of how you handle vulnerable customers, family violence disclosures, and angry callers. Behaviourally, ATO panels respond well to candidates who take the work seriously, show genuine curiosity about the tax and superannuation system, are comfortable with documented decision-making, are honest about mistakes, can talk about working with public money and confidential taxpayer information, and demonstrate respect for the APS Code of Conduct and the agency's integrity framework. They respond poorly to private-practice swagger, dismissiveness about process, casual treatment of confidentiality, contempt for compliance work or for taxpayers, name-dropping, and any sign that the candidate sees the ATO purely as a credential before returning to private practice. Expect a calm, professional, sometimes formal tone; expect to be told the relevant pay band openly under the ATO Enterprise Agreement and your prior salary expectations to be discussed early; expect at least one question about diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and the agency's Reconciliation Action Plan; and expect a longer feedback loop than commercial employers because panel deliberation, selection report sign-off, reference checks, and AGSVA clearance processing are documented in detail.

What ATO Looks For

  • Capability evidence aligned to the APS Integrated Leadership System work-level standards for the relevant classification: Shapes Strategic Thinking, Achieves Results, Cultivates Productive Working Relationships, Exemplifies Personal Drive and Integrity, and Communicates with Influence, demonstrated with specific past examples rather than aspirational statements.
  • Integrity in handling confidential taxpayer information under the secrecy provisions of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 and the APS Code of Conduct; candidates who treat confidentiality casually, who have a history of conflict-of-interest issues, or who cannot articulate the difference between public and protected information do not progress.
  • Tax-technical credibility for compliance, audit, objections, litigation, and Tax Counsel roles: clear knowledge of the Income Tax Assessment Acts, the GST Act, the Tax Administration Act, and the body of public rulings, Practical Compliance Guidelines, and case law that the agency uses; professional credentials (CPA, CA, CTA, admission as a legal practitioner) carry weight.
  • Data and analytics fluency for an agency that runs one of Australia's largest in-house analytics programs across STP, bank data matching, e-invoicing, and risk modelling; familiarity with Python, R, SAS, SQL, and modern model governance is increasingly central across audit, debt, and service-delivery work, not just in technology branches.
  • Public-sector delivery discipline: working to documented assurance gates, secure-by-design controls under the PSPF and the Information Security Manual, IRAP-aligned cloud adoption, and the practical reality of implementing change in a high-availability revenue system that cannot afford prolonged outages.
  • Calm in high-stakes moments: peak-lodgement periods around 31 October and 28 February, year-end superannuation reporting, debt-recovery escalations, public commentary on ATO administrative actions, parliamentary questions on notice, Senate Estimates appearances, and the everyday reality that any decision can become a national news story.
  • Genuine commitment to the agency's mission across the community: small business, vulnerable taxpayers, ESL communities (the ATO supports significant Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Arabic, Greek, and Italian engagement), and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community engagement under the agency's Reconciliation Action Plan.
  • Respect for the unionised workplace: candidates who show familiarity with the CPSU, who treat the ATO Enterprise Agreement and APS bargaining as a normal feature of working life, and who do not signal a preference for individual non-union arrangements perform better in interviews.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the ATO headquartered, and where are most jobs located?
The ATO's national headquarters is in Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory, but the agency operates as a genuinely national workforce with very large operational sites in Melbourne (notably the Box Hill office), Sydney (with significant operations at Hurstville and Parramatta as well as the CBD), Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, and Townsville, plus a long tail of smaller offices spanning more than thirty locations nationally. Roles are advertised by location on APSJobs.gov.au, many roles offer flexible work and hybrid arrangements, and some roles are explicitly multi-location with the successful candidate able to nominate the closest ATO site at offer stage.
Do I need to be an Australian citizen to work at the ATO?
In almost all cases, yes. The ATO is generally a citizenship-only employer because most roles require an Australian Government Security Vetting Agency (AGSVA) security clearance at Baseline, Negative Vetting 1 (NV1), or Negative Vetting 2 (NV2), and AGSVA clearances are reserved for Australian citizens. A small number of specialist contractor or non-ongoing engagements may proceed with permanent residency where no clearance is required, but the default expectation for ongoing APS engagement at the ATO is Australian citizenship at the point of offer.
What is the APS classification structure and how does pay work?
The Australian Public Service uses a standard classification structure that the ATO follows: APS 1 to APS 6 covers entry through experienced specialist work (broadly fifty thousand to ninety-five thousand dollars), Executive Level 1 (EL 1) covers senior policy and specialist work (broadly one hundred and twenty to one hundred and forty thousand dollars), Executive Level 2 (EL 2) covers senior management (broadly one hundred and fifty-five to one hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars), and the Senior Executive Service tiers (SES Bands 1, 2, and 3) sit above two hundred thousand dollars. Pay points within each classification are set by the ATO Enterprise Agreement, negotiated with the CPSU; specialist titles such as Tax Counsel and Senior Tax Counsel sit alongside the standard structure with their own technical pay arrangements.
What security clearance will I need, and how long does it take?
Most ATO roles require a security clearance at one of three levels: Baseline (the entry-level vetting suitable for handling OFFICIAL: Sensitive and PROTECTED information), Negative Vetting 1 (NV1, suitable for SECRET information and required for many compliance and senior technology roles), or Negative Vetting 2 (NV2, suitable for TOP SECRET information and required for senior intelligence-adjacent and sensitive investigation roles). Baseline can be processed in a few weeks; NV1 commonly takes six to twelve months end-to-end; NV2 typically takes longer. The clearance is sponsored by the ATO and processed by AGSVA, and an offer is usually conditional on the clearance being granted.
What benefits and superannuation does the ATO offer?
ATO benefits reflect Australian Public Service norms: superannuation is paid at approximately thirteen and a half per cent, above the legislated Superannuation Guarantee. Members hired before 2005 are typically in the Public Sector Superannuation Scheme (PSS), a defined-benefit scheme; newer hires sit in the Public Sector Superannuation Accumulation Plan (PSSAP), a defined-contribution scheme, although many staff elect to direct their superannuation to a fund of their choice. Other benefits commonly include four weeks of paid annual leave (with cultural leave provisions for some communities), generous personal and carers leave, paid parental leave under the ATO Enterprise Agreement (which is more generous than the National Employment Standards), flexible work arrangements including hybrid and compressed-hours options for many roles, study assistance, and access to professional membership reimbursement (CPA, CA, CTA) for relevant roles.
Is the ATO unionised, and how does enterprise bargaining work?
Yes. The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) is the dominant union for ATO staff and is the registered bargaining representative for the ATO Enterprise Agreement, which sets pay points, allowances, leave entitlements, hours of work, and consultation arrangements for most non-SES staff. Enterprise bargaining cycles run on a multi-year basis under the federal government's APS-wide bargaining framework, and pay outcomes during bargaining periods can attract national press coverage. Joining the CPSU is voluntary, and a meaningful proportion of ATO staff are members; the agency's working environment treats union membership and Enterprise Agreement coverage as a normal feature of working life.
Does the ATO hire graduates and entry-level candidates?
Yes. The ATO Graduate Program is one of the largest in the Australian Public Service and recruits across multiple streams including Accounting and Finance, Law, Data and Analytics, Technology and Cyber, Business and HR, and Service Delivery and Communications. Applications typically open in the first quarter of the year for the following year's intake, the program is structured as a structured rotation across business lines for twelve months at the APS 4 level with a guaranteed APS 5 placement on completion, and successful graduates can be located in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, or Hobart depending on stream and capacity. The ATO also runs entry-level cadetships and indigenous-targeted recruitment programs.
What is the ATO's stance on flexible work and remote work?
The ATO's approach to flexible and hybrid work is set out in the ATO Enterprise Agreement and supporting policy. Many non-customer-facing roles support hybrid arrangements with a mix of office and home days, compressed workweeks, part-time, and job-share arrangements; most teams operate to a documented hybrid pattern with required in-office days set at the team level. Wholly remote arrangements are less common and typically tied to specific role types or accessibility requirements rather than the default. Customer-facing service-delivery roles in call centres are generally office-based or follow a structured hybrid pattern that supports operational coverage.
How long does the recruitment process typically take?
From the closing date of an APSJobs advertisement to a written offer commonly takes four to ten weeks for shortlisting, panel interview, written exercise (where applicable), reference checks, and selection report sign-off by the delegate. Pre-engagement checks add further time: a National Police Check usually clears within two to three weeks, and an AGSVA security clearance can extend total time-to-start by a few weeks for Baseline, six to twelve months for NV1, and longer for NV2. Cleared candidates and merit-pool placements can move materially faster.
Does the ATO sponsor work visas?
Generally no. Because the overwhelming majority of ATO roles require an Australian citizen for AGSVA security clearance, the agency does not routinely sponsor work visas for ongoing positions. A narrow set of specialist non-ongoing or contractor engagements may be open to permanent residents where no clearance is required, but candidates relying on visa sponsorship should not assume the ATO is a viable pathway and should look first at private-practice tax employers.
What was the PwC tax leaks scandal and how has it affected ATO recruitment?
The PwC tax leaks scandal of 2023-2024 involved the misuse by a senior PwC tax partner of confidential Treasury and ATO consultations on multinational tax measures, and triggered referrals from the ATO to the New South Wales Police and the Australian Federal Police, a parliamentary inquiry, a wider review of tax practitioner regulation under the Tax Practitioners Board, and a structural rethink of how the ATO works with the Big Four firms on policy design. For candidates, the practical effect is heightened sensitivity in interviews to integrity, conflicts of interest, and confidentiality, particularly for tax-technical, policy, and Tax Counsel roles; expect at least one question about how you have handled confidential information and conflicts in past roles.
What does day-to-day work in technology and analytics look like at the ATO?
The ATO operates one of Australia's largest in-house technology and analytics programs, spanning the integrated revenue management environment, Single Touch Payroll, e-invoicing, the bank data matching program, the Tax Avoidance Taskforce analytics, and the small business and individual taxpayer service surfaces. The technology environment is hybrid cloud (AWS and Azure) with significant SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, and Salesforce footprints, modern DevSecOps practice with IRAP-aligned controls, and analytics work in Python, R, SAS, SQL, Tableau, and Power BI. Teams operate to documented assurance gates under the Protective Security Policy Framework and the Information Security Manual, and engineering and analytics roles are scored on secure-by-design discipline alongside delivery outcomes.

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Related Resources

Related Articles

Sources

  1. About the ATO — Australian Taxation Office —
  2. ATO Careers — Australian Taxation Office —
  3. APSJobs — Australian Government recruitment portal —
  4. Public Service Act 1999 — Federal Register of Legislation —
  5. APS Integrated Leadership System (ILS) — Australian Public Service Commission —
  6. AGSVA Security Clearances — Australian Government Security Vetting Agency —
  7. Commissioner of Taxation — Rob Heferen biography —
  8. Tax Avoidance Taskforce — Australian Taxation Office —
  9. Single Touch Payroll (STP) — Australian Taxation Office —
  10. OECD Pillar Two GloBE rules implementation in Australia — Treasury —
  11. Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) — ATO bargaining —
  12. PwC tax leaks scandal — Senate Inquiry report —
  13. Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF) — Attorney-General's Department —
  14. Information Security Manual (ISM) — Australian Signals Directorate —
  15. Public Sector Superannuation Scheme (PSS) and PSSAP — CSC —