16th International ATAX Tax Administration Conference: Getting It Right

The University of New South Wales hosts the 16th International ATAX Tax Administration Conference on April 8-10 (agenda): 

Tuesday, April 8 

Session 1 Plenary: Getting it Right: Leading Tax Administration 

• Michael Walpole (UNSW; Google Scholar) (chair) 
• Frederik Anseel (Dean, UNSW; Google Scholar) 
• Rob Heferen (Australian Taxation Office) 
• Peter Mersi (Inland Revenue New Zealand) 

Session 2 Parallel

• Duncan Bentley (Federation University; Google Scholar), Shaping the Digital Future of Tax Administration: AI 
• Stefanie Geringer (University of Vienna), The Deceptive Initial Appeal of Harmonisation and Centralisation of VAT Administration 
• Byungsik Jung (Deputy Dean, ADBI), Digital Tax: Opportunities and Challenges in Asia and Pacific
• Kyung Geun Lee (Seoul School of Integrated Sciences and Technologies), Seoul School of Integrated Sciences and Technologies 
• Yvette Lind (BI Norwegian; Google Scholar), Mind the Gap: Pros and Cons of Estimating VAT Losses
• Jane Ndlovu (University of the Witwatersrand; Google Scholar), Deepfakes vs. Tax AI: Who Wins the Digital Battle?
• Nina Olson (Center for Taxpayer Rights), Taxpayer Rights and Protecting Vulnerable Taxpayers 
• Chetan Rao (Commissioner of Income Tax), Riznaldi Akbar (MoF, Indonesia) & Fumiaki Yamato (MoF, Japan), Panel Discussion
• Adrian Sawyer (University of Canterbury; Google Scholar) & Alistair Hodson (University of Canterbury; Google Scholar), Making a Hash of It – Inland Revenue’s New (albeit brief) Data Sharing Policy Further Erodes Taxpayers’ Rights 
• HM Sembiring (University of Western Australia), From IRL to URL: The ATOs AI Overhaul and What It Means for WAs SMEs
• Michael Walpole (UNSW; Google Scholar),VAT Administration 
• Robin Woellner (James Cook University) & Andrew Maples (University of Canterbury; Google Scholar), Bonfire of the Privileges 

Session 3 Plenary: Getting it Right: By (Bionic) Hands or Brain? Next Generation Tax Decision Making 

• Yan Xu (UNSW; Google Scholar) (chair)
• Benjamin Alarie (Toronto; Google Scholar), AI Is Making Tax Law Better 
• Paul Andon (UNSW; Google Scholar) & Fahim Khondaker (UNSW), Collaborate or Compete? Equipping Next Gen Professionals to be Savvier
• Jeremy Hirschhorn (Australian Taxation Office), The Tools are Great, but People are Still in Charge… 

Session 4 Plenary: Getting it Right: Integrity of the Tax System and the Tax Profession, What Should We Know? 

• Rodney Brown (USNW) (chair) 
• Julie Abdalla (The Tax Institute), A View from the Profession – Private Practice
• Peter de Cure (Tax Practitioners Board), A Regulator’s Perspective
• Michelle de Niese (Corporate Tax Association), A View from the Profession – Large Corporate Tax Counsels
• Ruth Owen (Inspector General of Taxation), A Scrutineer’s Perspective

Session 5: Parallel 

• Rodney Brown (UNSW), The Role of Tax Professionals and Tax Dispute Resolution
• Adrian Cartland (Cartland Law), Don’t Believe the Kayfabe: Lessons in Tax Administration of Crypto and Digital Assets from Pro Wrestling 
• Nadee Dissanayake (Inland Revenue Department, Sri Lanka), Understanding Individual Taxpayers' Intentions: The Shift Towards e-Filing in the Digital Tax Era 
• Jennie Granger (UNSW), Taxpayer Rights and Protecting Vulnerable Taxpayers
• Tomo Kudrich (UNSW), Using a Mixed Methods Approach to Test Potential impact of Participatory Budgeting on Tax Compliance in Australia 
• Jeroen Lammers (Copenhagen Business School), When Anti-Avoidance Provisions and Human Rights Standards Collide
• Alexis Lujan (University of Melbourne), Global Ethical Standards for International Tax Planning: A Tax Administration Perspective 
• Dhwani Mainkar (Jindal Global Law School), The Effectiveness of the Taxpayers’ Charter of Rights in India: A Comparative Study
• Annette Morgan (Curtin University; Google Scholar), Emer Mulligan (University of Galway) & Margaret O'Neill (University of Galway), The Challenge of Inclusive Digital Tax Engagement
• Mzwandile Ngidi (Pretoria University; Google Scholar) & Christina Allen (Curtin University; Google Scholar),  Assessing Multilateral Cooperative Compliance to Reduce Complexity and Build Trust in the Mining and Extractive Industry in Developing Countries 
• Monica Pradyot (UPES Dehradun), Digital Justice for Taxpayers: Transforming Dispute Resolution Mechanisms in the Modern Era 
• Adrian Sawyer (University of Canterbury; Google Scholar), Tax Compliance and Complexity
• Kim Alina Schulz (Paderborn University), Caren Sureth-Sloane (Paderborn University), Stefan Greil (German Federal Ministry of France) & Eleonore Kaluza-Thiesen (German Federal Ministry of France), Avenues to Attenuate Transfer Pricing Complexity and Enhance Compliance
• Binh Tran-Nam (UNSW; Google Scholar) & Michael Walpole (UNSW; Google Scholar), Tax Dispute Resolution: A Critical and Comprehensive Review
• Yan Xu (UNSW), Shaping the Digital Future of Tax Administration (cont’d): AI and e-Filing
• February Leonardo Zulkarnain (Al-Azhar University; Google Scholar), The Indonesian Digital Transformation of Tax Services and Compliance 

Wednesday, April 9

Session 6 Plenary: Getting it Right: Tax and Sustainability

• Jennie Granger (UNSW) (chair) 
• Andrew Mills (Member Board of Taxation), Setting the Standards for ESG Reporting: What are We Trying to Achieve? 
• Kerrie Sadiq (Queensland University; Google Scholar), Sustainable Corporate Tax Practices: Developing ESTG 
• Penelope Tuck (University of Birmingham; Google Scholar), The Role of Green Mentality in the Development of Environmental Tax Policy: The Case of Landfill Tax in the UK 

Book Launch

• Kerrie Sadiq (Queensland University; Google Scholar), Chris Evans (UNSW; Google Scholar) & Na Li (East China University of Political Science and Law) Eds., Taxing Income and Consumption: The Development of International Tax Law and Policy (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2025)

Session 7: Parallel 

• Ben Alarie  (Toronto; Google Scholar), Shaping the Digital Future of Tax Administration: Crypto 
• John Bevacqua (Monash University; Google Scholar) & Amna Tariq Shah-Kemp (Monash University), Getting Tax Nudges Right – And Ensuring Rights when Nudging Taxpayers
• Les Book (Villanova; Google Scholar), Taxpayer Rights and the Protection of Vulnerable Taxpayers
• Kay Cook (Swinburne University; Google Scholar), Adrienne Byrt (Swinburne University; Google Scholar), Rachael Burgin (Swinburne University; Google Scholar), Georgina Dimopoulos (Swinburne University), Pathways of Perpetration: Mapping Financially Abusive Tax Manipulation Tactics 
• Chris Evans (UNSW; Google Scholar), Tax Compliance and Complexity
• Pietro Giordano (University of Roma), CBAM: Europe’s Path to a Sustainable World
•  Carika Keulder (University of the Witwatersrand), Between a Tax and a Hard Place: Rethinking Third-Party Appointments in South Africa
• Lindelwa Ngwenya (University of Pretoria), Institutional Quality: Increased Tax Compliance in the Informal Sector in Developing Countries 
• Karen Powell (Deakin University), The Olympic Games: What’s Tax Avoidance Got to Do with It? 
• Katherine Pratt (Loyola-L.A.; Google Scholar), The Role of the General Welfare Doctrine in Protecting American Taxpayers “In Need”
• Yayan P. Riyanto (Monash University), Bridging the Crypto Gap: Enhancing Tax Compliance in Decentralised Financial Systems 
• Khodani Sengwane (University of Pretoria; Google Scholar) & Zinhle Novazi (Stellenbosch University), Cracking the Crypto Code: SARS Approach to Taxing the Untouchable 
• Tanja Fatur Šikić (Sabina Hodžić University), The Financial and Environmental Challenges in GCC Countries 
• Penelope Tuck (University of Birmingham; Google Scholar), Environmental Taxation Issues 
• Harry Waddell (University of Canterbury), The Impact of Technology Upon the Tax Literacy of Small Business Owners – Evidence from NZ 
• Bernard Walrut (Barrister, Murray Chambers), Tax, LLMs, RAGs and Some Soft Logic 

Session 8 Plenary: Getting it Right: Tax Is Not Just for Tax Experts

• Andrew Mills (Member Board of Taxation) (chair) 
• Kirsten Fish (Australian Taxation Office), The Skills Tool Kit Top Tax Experts Need, Now and in the Future 
• Helen MacGillivray (FCA Accountant and Senior Advisor, New Zealand) (discussant)
• Christine Mathies (UNSW; Google Scholar) (discussant)

Session 9 Plenary: Getting it Right: Can Tax Contribute to Reducing Inequality

• Ann Kayis-Kumar (USNW; Google Scholar) (chair) 
• Jan Breckenridge (UNSW), Kay Cook (Swinburne University of Technology; Google Scholar), Christine Speidel (Villanova; Google Scholar) & Ruth Owen (Inspector-General of Taxation), Tax Administration at the Intersection of Poverty, Debt and Financial Abuse – Interdisciplinary and International Perspectives 
• Will Day (Australian Taxation Office), Les Book (Villanova; Google Scholar) & Nina Olson (Centre for Taxpayer Rights), Designing Best Practice Approaches to Supporting Financially Vulnerable Taxpayers – International Developments, Recent Progress and New Opportunities 
• Nina Olson (Centre for Taxpayer Rights), Keynote: Poverty and Tax – Global Approaches and Lessons Learned

Session 10 Plenary: Conference Close 

• Michael Walpole (UNSW; Google Scholar)