Bruce Quigley began working for the ATO in February 1972. He was appointed Second Commissioner (Law) in December 2006 and, in July 2009, took up the role of Second Commissioner (Compliance).
In this role Bruce leads delivery of the Compliance Program which outlines to the community both those areas of risk that will attract the interest of the ATO and the compliance response to those risks. It also provides an overview of the practical assistance and guidance available to taxpayers who want to do the right thing.
As Second Commissioner (Law), Bruce had overall responsibility for the ATO's interpretation of the tax laws and input to the design and implementation of new laws. The Australian Valuation Office fell within Bruce's area of responsibility and Bruce also had a significant corporate governance role as Chair of the ATO's Audit Committee.
Before becoming Second Commissioner (Law), Bruce was Deputy Chief Tax Counsel and National Program Manager for the Tax Counsel Network. He led technical decision-making in the highest priority and most complex technical issues.
Bruce has wide experience in tax design and administration. He has held several senior management positions in tax including Complex Audit Manager and Audit Chief as well as First Assistant Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner and Deputy Child Support Registrar.
During the implementation of the New Tax System, Bruce led the team working with Treasury and the Office of Parliamentary Counsel on the design and development of the GST and other indirect tax laws.
He is considered an international expert in GST and has advised overseas jurisdictions and presented papers at international conferences.
Bruce has degrees in accounting and law, is a fellow of CPA Australia and the Taxation Institute of Australia. He has been admitted as a barrister of the Supreme Court of NSW.
Bruce was appointed to the position of Second Commissioner for the period 18 December 2006 to 17 December 2013 under the provisions of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 - section 4.
Geoff Leeper heads the ATO enterprise systems, technology and operations functions. He is also responsible for oversight of the Australian Business Register, Standard Business Reporting and ATO's knowledge management strategy.
Geoff graduated from the University of Sydney in 1979 with a Bachelor of Economics (Honours), with fields of study including public finance and taxation, macroeconomics, microeconomics and statistics.
Geoff joined the Australian Public Service in 1980 and has forged a career with deep experience in policy development, program design and implementation, service delivery and corporate management. Much of his policy advising experience has been centred around the interaction of the tax and social security systems, with particular attention to income testing and effective marginal tax rates in the income support and family payments areas.
Geoff has been a Senior Executive since 1992 and has operated at the Deputy Secretary level since 2002. His operational career has included management of the national call centre network for Centrelink and the national service delivery operations for Medicare Australia.
In 2008 Geoff successfully led the negotiations for the adoption of significant reforms in national housing policy and programs, including a new agreement for reducing homelessness and another for reducing overcrowding among indigenous peoples in remote areas of Australia. He was awarded the Public Service Medal for this work in 2011.
In 2009 Geoff led the establishment of the Australian Climate Change Regulatory Authority in anticipation of legislation for a carbon trading scheme being passed. He subsequently held responsibility for corporate operations, climate adaptation policy and programs and greenhouse energy reporting in the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency.
Geoff brings to the ATO a wealth of policy, program and operational experience. He has particular strengths in organisational reform, people management and change management. He was appointed to Second Commissioner on 13 September 2012.
Neil has worked for 30 years in tax and superannuation administration across a range of different areas in the ATO, including designing and implementing new tax laws, helping to ensure compliance with existing laws, and leading major change initiatives like the recent super reforms.
In his current role, Neil has overall responsibility for the ATO's law practice, corporate governance, people and revenue management. The role includes chairing the ATO's Audit Committee, and overseeing the ATO's relationships with its external scrutineers.
Neil commenced his career as a graduate in the ATO's Adelaide office before moving to Canberra in the mid 1980's. In keeping with the times, his early roles focused on matters arising from the tax avoidance era of the 1970's and 80's, including developing processes and structures to help with early identification of new schemes.
As Australia's self-assessment system for income tax began to bed down, Neil helped deliver changes designed to improve that system, such as binding rulings and new penalty standards.
A two year stint working in a Minister's office in the 1990's provided good grounding for leadership roles over several years designing new tax and super laws to give effect to government policy. This was during the period when the role of instructing on new laws resided with the ATO rather than Treasury. Neil worked on changes such as the Medicare levy surcharge, the private health insurance rebate, the gun levy, family tax benefits and the original superannuation 'choice of fund' proposal.
Drawing on this experience, Neil was then asked to lead work to give effect to recommendations from the Ralph Business Tax Review to overhaul the way that new tax laws were designed and implemented. The emphasis was on integrating policy, legislative and administrative design, with a particular focus on designing administrative processes from a user's perspective. The ATO was one of the first government agencies to pioneer user-centric design thinking, and is now a key contributor to the Australian Public Service Design Centre of Excellence.
Over the last decade Neil's roles have focused on corporate governance, stakeholder relations, and compliance.
For the last five years prior to his current role, Neil was Deputy Commissioner Superannuation. Key challenges in that role included administering the excess contributions tax; preventing schemes aimed at the illegal early access of super; and helping to shape and implement an ambitious agenda or reform to the ATO's administration of super. For example, for the first time Australians are now able to access details of all of their active superannuation accounts at a single online location, making it easier to understand and manage their super savings. This facility will grow over time to include all super savings, as additional data is provided to the ATO.
Also during Neil's time in super a number of self-managed super fund matters were progressed through the courts, building a new body of case law to help guide trustees in this important and growing market.
Neil holds a bachelor degree in Accounting and a Graduate Diploma in Taxation Law and was appointed to the role of acting Second Commissioner on 8 October 2012.
Last Modified: Wednesday, 24 April 2013