The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has unceremoniously dumped its longstanding official terminology of referring to those compelled to give it money as generic ‘customers’ and ‘clients’ to re-adopt the plain-English and old-fashioned term of “taxpayers”, as the agencytries to recoup its annual “tax gap” of close to $50 billion, or 7.5% of collectable monies.

The sharp shift in the agency’s nomenclature is revealed in a recent missive from ATO second commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn, officially rebranding the former ATO ‘Client Engagement Group’ to the new ‘Compliance and Engagement Group’.

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Commissioner Rob Heferen said it’s a big shift, because it symbolises a move from the corporatist stance of the customer always being right to a more traditionalist rules-are-rules stance.

Hirschhorn told his troops in a recent email that “Our new name more naturally reflects the ATO’s core purpose — collecting tax so the government can deliver services to the Australian community. Our role in this is supporting compliance across the system while maintaining strong, proactive engagement with stakeholders, and our new name is reflective of this role.

“The language of ‘client’ served the ATO well, challenging us (and taxpayers) to think differently about the tax system. Historically, the ATO needed a shift in mindset toward the way we interacted with taxpayers.

“Our reinvention moved us from a more transactional and ‘after the event’ audit liabilities mindset to one that placed greater emphasis on the human side of interacting with the tax office — and the fact that most Australians are honest and will voluntarily comply if we make it easy to do so.”

But like Joy Division T-shirts recently sported by the prime minister and assorted other grunge-chic wares worn by certain tie-less secretaries, vintage vernacular appears to be plainly back in vogue.

Albeit with conditions, Hirschhorn noted:

“Critically, moving on from the word ‘client’ does not change the respect with which we must treat taxpayers in each and every interaction. Equally importantly, ‘compliance’ is not a proxy for ’audits’. It means that we help taxpayers get things right, ideally from the outset, in accordance with our vision:

• It is easy to get things right, noting this aligns strongly with the productivity agenda of the government
• Help is tailored, which includes giving useful guidance on how the tax system works, but also that we provide taxpayers with the information we hold about them to minimise errors
• Where, unfortunately, necessary, deliberate non-compliance has consequences, but even here, we need to act in a way that encourages long-term compliance.

Again, the best compliance, and what we will strive to maximise in our aspirational vision of every taxpayer meeting their obligations, is voluntary compliance at lodgment.”

Never let it be said the ATO doesn’t dare to dream, especially when it comes to certain multinationals — OK, well, all of them — actually paying their way. At least when certain consultancies are trying to redesign both ends of the taxation fence.

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Still, Hirschhorn is a glass-half-full kind of technocrat, especially when unnecessary, obsessive rebranding and positioning come into play and waste valuable agency time.

“In good news, there’s no new acronym to learn; we’re still CEG. I encourage you to update your signature block to reflect the name change. If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to read our 2025-26 group plan and think about what it means for your work,” Hirschhorn encouraged.

An ATO spokesperson told The Mandarin that “the terminology change from ‘client’ to ‘taxpayer’ was brought into effect when the ATO’s purpose and vision were updated in March 2025″.

“The decision was made by the ATO executive committee,” the ATO spokesperson said.

“Importantly, moving on from the word ‘client’ does not change the respect with which the ATO treats taxpayers in each and every interaction.”

This article was first published byThe Mandarin.