Michael Buscema , recently the acting assistant commissioner of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), has joined Aptum as practice lead, tax disputes.

Michael’s unique taxation experience

Michael has an extensive career in technical taxation policy and complex dispute resolution. Michael worked for the ATO and Commonwealth Treasury for 11 years prior to joining Aptum, holding several senior and director level positions in policy and dispute resolution.

In recent years, Michael has played a key role in steering the ATO’s post COVID-19 debt recovery strategy, leading a team responsible for the ATO’s most strategic tax disputes, both domestically and internationally.

Speaking about his new role, Michael said: “I’m thrilled to be guiding the continued development of a different approach to tax disputes with Aptum.”

“Michael’s appointment brings a rare and unique insight into the ATO’s latest recovery priorities and approach to Aptum,” Nigel Evans said. “We expect this will strengthen our capability in both Federal and State tax disputes.”

Navigating the ATO’s latest approach

On the challenge of helping clients navigate the ATO’s latest approach, Michael emphasised: “It’s important to take into consideration a client’s full experience with the ATO, not just their audit or objection, but how a variety of risk and circumstantial factors affect how taxpayers are treated.”

“For us, it’s about understanding a client’s objectives and packaging the essential information that gets outcomes in disputes, and stripping away the rest.”

Looking forward

We will be facilitating opportunities for our network to get to know Michael over coming months, and we are excited to introduce new initiatives and strategies for helping clients facing tax disputes with Michael’s leadership.