Criminal investigator jobs
Working in the Criminal Investigations stream, you'll:
- investigate major white-collar fraud and excise matters to a criminal standard of proof.
- provide high-level advice in relation to investigation strategies and liaise as the ATO representative with the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions regarding the prosecution of alleged offenders.
- apply lateral thinking, identify risks and address uncertainties to obtain admissible evidence for inclusion in briefs of evidence.
Senior officers will also lead cross-agency teams in complex investigations.
Our work
On any given day, we may undertake any of these diverse tasks:
- Profiling and intelligence
We develop a holistic view of the significance of identified offending behaviour. We identify if our person of interest is offending alone, in a group, or if they are the controlling mind or facilitator.
We investigate criminal behaviours and offences across a variety of legislation:
- Goods and services tax fraud
- Wine equalisation tax fraud
- Fringe benefits tax fraud
- lodgement of false business activity statements
- Income tax fraud
- Lodgment of false income tax returns
- Illicit tobacco offences
- Tax agent offences.
- Prepare court documents
We prepare court documents including affidavits and witness statements for internal and external witnesses. These documents will form part of the brief of evidence we hand over to prosecutions. We also prepare affidavits and associated documents for search warrant applications.
- Conduct search warrants:
Where necessary, we work with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to conduct search warrants.
- Analyse large volumes of data
Our investigations can range from straightforward to significantly complex and intricate arrangements. We may need to analyse large volumes of data for relevant information. We draw conclusions from that data and present it in a way that tells the ‘story’ of the offending in a convincing and clear manner.
- Work with internal and external witnesses to collect evidence and prepare witness statements
We work in partnership with several different areas within the ATO, as well as other government agencies and members of the public – tax agents, retailers, business partners, employers. Working together, we collect information relevant to our cases so we can demonstrate the offending behaviour to the standard of proof required.
- Engage with other areas of the ATO for expert advice and assistance.
For example:
- Digital Forensics will assist with accessing devices from warrants and uploading the data to specific interrogation systems for investigators to analyse. They also assist with the analysis of specific information, systems or understanding where data comes from and how it can or has been manipulated (such as in the case of a falsified document).
- The Financial Accounting Unit provides investigations with support in understanding the financial data we collect from banks and other sources. They provide one-on-one assistance and tools to convert large volumes of data into meaningful information.
- Prepare referrals to other government agencies
As part of our work, we often lodge referrals to other agencies and other areas of the ATO for further compliance action.
We also work in collaboration with other agencies such as:
- Tax Practitioners Board
- State and Federal Police
- Australian Securities and Investments Commission
- ATO audit.
We're hiring
More roles are coming soon. If you have experience and are interested in working with us, we’d like to hear from you through our job registerExternal Link. Alternatively, you can register for job alertsExternal Link to be informed of jobs that match your skills.
Find out more about what we can offer you and search for jobs on our ATO CareersExternal Link portal.
Investigate major white-collar fraud and help us identify tax avoidance. Apply now.