The essential role of leadership is to serve as a safe store of hope and wisdom. Everyday we learn more about Havel's ickiness and how cream rises to the top ...
Movers and Shakers: Michael O'Neill - Secretary (CEO) of Tax Practitioners Board
TPB announces shakeup to structure and leadership by Katarina Taurian
(katarina.taurian@momentummedia.com.au)
New CEO joins TPB
ATO executive appointed as TPB CEO
TPB shifts top jobs, names ATO officer as CEO | Accountants DailyChair of the Tax Practitioners Board welcomes new Secretary/CEO
The Tax Practitioners Board is welcoming a new chief executive, joining from the Australian Taxation Office.Michael O'Neill has been appointed to lead the TPB, bringing more than 30 years' experience in public service.
O'Neill was most recently assistant commissioner and chief risk officer at the ATO. He is also a lawyer who has worked with the Australian Federal Police and Australian Crime Commission.
TPB chair Ian Taylor said he is delighted to welcome O'Neill to the role on behalf of the board.
"Michael brings a wealth of relevant experience to the role, including a background in private practice as a lawyer as well as nearly three decades in senior management with a strong focus on ATO legal and compliance issues," he said.
"We look forward to working with Michael to advance the interests of both tax practitioners and the consumers of tax services."
by JAMIE WILLIAMSON - TPB names new chief executive
Chair of the Tax Practitioners Board welcomes new Secretary/CEO
"I have
had a wonderful career in the public sector, as a lawyer, investigator
and leader. My extensive experience includes working in state and
federal agencies, in Australia and overseas, including with
international organisations.
Linkedin accessed on 6 Aug 2018
My
leadership roles include complex, civil and criminal investigations
involving the ATO and major law enforcement partners. I’m passionate
about good public policy that serves the community and sustains our economy.Currently
I’m focused on delivering an improved client experience for businesses
who seek ATO advice and guidance. This includes sharing our concerns
about risks and issues, improving our public guidance, and addressing
community confidence through proactive and contemporary communication
products and activities.
I enjoyed private practice in an accounting then law firm in my formative professional years. As a lawyer, my experience includes driving strategic litigation, coordinating complex multi-party dispute resolution, and providing policy and law reform advice to the highest levels of government.
Successful projects I’ve been accountable for include:
- the ATO’s management of offshore tax evasion (the $2 billion Project Wickenby)
- recreating international engagement strategies in the ATO, including:
- a new compliance and assurance program
- the OECD/G20 Base Erosion Profit Shifting strategy with a focus on collaboration in the digital economy
- the ATO’s support for foreign investment/FIRB (corporate investments, agricultural assets, real property, and coordination across the states/territories).
I enjoyed private practice in an accounting then law firm in my formative professional years. As a lawyer, my experience includes driving strategic litigation, coordinating complex multi-party dispute resolution, and providing policy and law reform advice to the highest levels of government.
Successful projects I’ve been accountable for include:
- the ATO’s management of offshore tax evasion (the $2 billion Project Wickenby)
- recreating international engagement strategies in the ATO, including:
- a new compliance and assurance program
- the OECD/G20 Base Erosion Profit Shifting strategy with a focus on collaboration in the digital economy
- the ATO’s support for foreign investment/FIRB (corporate investments, agricultural assets, real property, and coordination across the states/territories).
Personally, I’m enriched by my family and friends, and volunteer involvement in the NFP sector.
5 ways storytelling can be used to improve communication - Inside HR
Michael O'Neill - LinkedIn...
TPB RELEASES ITS CORPORATE PLAN 2018-19
The Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) has released its Corporate Plan 2018-19 [TPB RELEASES ITS CORPORATE PLAN 2018-19] . The Plan reflects the Board's objectives and functions as contained in the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA) and sets out the TPB's strategic direction for the period 2018-19 and future years.
Over the next 4 years, the Board will focus on the following strategic objectives:
1. Protect all consumers of tax practitioner services - by ensuring every entity that should be registered under the TASA is registered;
2. Maintain, protect and enhance the integrity of the registered tax practitioner profession - by assisting registered tax practitioners to understand their obligations under the TASA; and
3. Promote the TPB as an independent, efficient and effective regulator - by demonstrating the TPB is an effective, best-practice regulator of tax practitioners. TPB will also improve its technology platforms to ensure they meet the needs and expectations of the profession.
TPB Media Releases
*Tax crackdown targets wealthy cheats
Tax Matters
ATO Corporate plan 2018–19
Jack Manhire (Texas A&M), Constraints on IRS Control: An Alternative Approach to Tax Gap Analysis:
A
tax authority wants to take actions it knows will foster the greatest
degree of voluntary taxpayer compliance to reduce the "tax gap." This
paper suggests that even if a tax authority could attain a state of
complete knowledge, there are constraints on whether and to what extent
such actions would result in reducing the macro-level tax gap. These
limits are not merely a consequence of finite agency resources. They are
inherent in the system itself.
The Power of Diverse Voices: Mastering
the art of the narrative: using stories to shape public policy
People believe narratives are important and that
crafting or influencing them likely shapes public policy. But how does one actually do this?
Taking
the risk out of large-scale upgrades
There is no blanket solution. Patterns that describe an organisation’s behaviours, perceptions and biases can heavily influence the strategy chosen to modernise its systems.
From blame culture to learning culture
How can public organisations strike the right balance between individual culpability and organisational responsibility?
Michael D'Ascenzo "recalls the days after he began as a graduate in the Tax Office’s tax avoidance branch in 1977 chasing the “mass-marketed paper schemes", the most notorious of which were the bottom of the harbour schemes that were “attacking the system on all fronts".In 1988, the ATO raided the Sydney premises of Citibank, seizing hundreds of documents relating to a suspected tax-avoidance scheme. One of the officers was Michael O'Neill, a 23-year-old still finishing his law degree who, a decade later, would join the taskforce formed to investigate tax scheme promoters" Tax Haven Saga in Australia
There is no blanket solution. Patterns that describe an organisation’s behaviours, perceptions and biases can heavily influence the strategy chosen to modernise its systems.
From blame culture to learning culture
How can public organisations strike the right balance between individual culpability and organisational responsibility?
Michael D'Ascenzo "recalls the days after he began as a graduate in the Tax Office’s tax avoidance branch in 1977 chasing the “mass-marketed paper schemes", the most notorious of which were the bottom of the harbour schemes that were “attacking the system on all fronts".In 1988, the ATO raided the Sydney premises of Citibank, seizing hundreds of documents relating to a suspected tax-avoidance scheme. One of the officers was Michael O'Neill, a 23-year-old still finishing his law degree who, a decade later, would join the taskforce formed to investigate tax scheme promoters" Tax Haven Saga in Australia
Secret Aussie life of a global tax spy
Anti-avoidance powers to hunt multinationals 'ineffective': ATO
Allison Christians (McGill), Wolfgang Schoen (Max Planck) & Stephen E. Shay (Harvard), Foreword: International Tax Policy in a Disruptive Environment:
In this foreword to International Tax Policy in a Disruptive Environment: A Special Issue,
the authors provide an overview of the two-day interdisciplinary
conference that took place in Munich on 14-15 December 2017, and offer a
synopsis of the articles in this special edition of the Bulletin for
International Taxation. The authors offer preliminary observations based
on the conference and papers, including that despite its successes the
BEPS Project has left unfinished business.
Take your team on the journey: Communicate, earn the buy-in and upskill tax team members most affected by these changes. Without their support, any transformative projects merely sit on foundations of sand.
Beyond the bandwagon effect
CODA: Tyson Fawsett | Chief Data & Analytics Officer Public Sector
Tyson Fawcett - ATO's Most Important Asset – Data - SlideShare
Three Technologies Transforming the Legal Field
Law Technology Today: “Is your staff using analytics, blockchain and OCR yet? Corporations are ever-focused on their legal spend and demand more value from their outside counsel. Further disrupting the legal field are alternative legal service providers fueling the competitive landscape to become more crowded and innovative. As a result, Thomson Reuters’ 2018 Report on the State of the Legal Market surmised that declining profit margins, weakening collections, falling productivity, and loss of market share to alternative legal service providers are chipping away at the foundations of firm profitability. To counteract these market pressures and to differentiate themselves from competitors, law firms are embracing technology to improve operational efficiencies and transform the way attorneys and their firms interact with clients, answer their questions, and tackle their legal challenges. The law firms that embrace technology as a means to provide more cost-effective services to their clients will have a competitive advantage. For example, digitization and automation technologies have emerged that streamline internal processes and reduce workloads, so lawyers can spend more time advising clients and less time with administrative work…
Hubspot: “Easy-to-use infographic templates for PowerPoint & Illustrator
-
Infographics are a powerful tool for capturing the attention of your target audiences. In fact, businesses that publish infographics grow their traffic an average of 12% more than those that don’t.
-
The hard part, of course, is finding time and resources to create these infographics. That’s why we’ve created fifteen fully customizable infographic templates that will give you the inspiration and foundation you need to build your own infographics right in PowerPoint or Illustrator.”
- Note – requires free registration…”
