iscoverTax practitioners are consistently struggling to engage with the ATO, with a practitioner calling for the regulator to reinstate its long-retired relationship managers.
‘We don’t feel cared for’: Tax agents push for reinstalment of ATO relationship managers
01 October 2025
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10 minute read
In the early 2000s, the ATO phased out the role and work of its relationship managers, yet tax practitioners believe this action has facilitated a noticeable gap in how they engage with the ATO.
Joe Kaleb, Australianbiz and Make Accounting Great Again founder, is urging the ATO to bring back the role of relationship managers to aid tax practitioners in their work, knowledge, and sense of professional support.
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Speaking to Accountants Daily, Kaleb revealed it would be in the ATO’s best interests to reintroduce relationship managers as they delivered major and invaluable benefits.
Potential benefits that could be unlocked by relationship managers included a stronger compliance culture, faster resolution of issues, better trust and collaboration, targeted education and support, early intervention in debt management, and reduced administrative burden.
Relationship managers were dedicated officers at the ATO who dealt with tax practitioners on all compliance-related matters, who are non-existent today, according to Kaleb.
Kaleb said the reinstallation of the relationship managers would make sense and a notable difference in the current environment that tax practitioners were working under.
“Dedicated relationship managers build efficiency, trust, and collaboration between the ATO and agents, improving compliance and accelerating revenue collection,” he said.
“I had first-hand experience with a dedicated relationship manager when I started my practice in the mid-90s, and I remember how reassuring it was to have one consistent ATO contact for all compliance-related matters.
“Instead of being passed from one officer to another, I could pick up the phone and speak directly with someone who understood my practice, my clients, and the challenges we faced. That sense of collaboration not only made the process far more pleasant, but it also created efficiencies, reduced misunderstandings, and built genuine trust between tax practitioners and the ATO.”
According to Kaleb, the practitioners who established their practice after 2000 or during the ATO’s 2002–2010 Change Program wouldn’t be aware of the significant help the service used to provide, as well as the personal relationship that was built with those on the other side of the phone.
In terms of why the service was phased out, Kaleb said he wasn’t sure, but assumed it came with the technological revolution and introduction of the ATO portal, which provided no relationship or consistency for practitioners needing guidance and support.
“The managers were a great way to create efficiencies and consistency, as well as bringing a human side to the relationship, which we don’t have at all now,” Kaleb said.
“The relationship between the ATO and agents now is probably at an all time low, unfortunately. With all the issues we have with client agent linking and the portal being down regularly, we just don’t feel like we’re cared for.”
The best aspect of the relationship managers highlighted by Kaleb was that personal relationships were built with those in the position, which resulted in problems and requests being sorted and dealt with both quickly and efficiently – a large contrast to today’s standard 28-day service period.
Kaleb took to LinkedIn to share his view and suggestion with the tax community, which were well received and widely agreed with.
The post attracted more than 20 comments, with many noting the position relied and depended on the ATO in terms of its lack of motivation to change its culture towards tax agents, as well as a lack of budget.
Lawrence Petruzzelli, MDB Taxation & Business Advisors partner, also weighed in on the conversation and told Accountants Daily that a relationship manager from the ATO would help tax agents improve efficiency and become more effective when engaging with the ATO.
“Right now, we have long wait times and if we have any client issues that require multiple calls there is a lot of double-handling of information, which just wastes time and can be hard to bill back to the client,” Petruzzelli said.
“A relationship manager who understands our firm and our clients would help us serve our clients better and engage more frequently with the ATO to drive for better outcomes for clients, rather than the current system of undertrained and incompetent call centre staff.
“While clients are being threatened or other tools are being used from the ATO which could be avoided with a good relationship manager who can vouch for our firm, our clients and understand possible issues that can occur.”
Kaleb said bringing back such a role would be nothing short of an increasingly beneficial move for all tax practitioners and the wider industry.
“We need a solid and reliable source, a one point of contact or all our compliance matters. In the past, that relationship manager knew our practice, the challenges we faced and they found solutions for us,” he said.
“The main reason to bring it back is to solidify our position and our job for our clients as our relationship is built on trust and collaboration – which has been lacking for quite a long time now.”
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