Michael Buscema Email & Phone Number

I am the Practice Lead of Tax Disputes at Aptum, a specialist litigation firm with a unique platform and approach to helping clients resolve disputes.For 11 years prior to joining Aptum, I worked for the ATO and Commonwealth Treasury, holding a range of senior positions including Acting Assistant Commissioner of the ATO.In recent years I have been heavily involved in steering the ATO’s post COVID-19 debt recovery strategy, leading and training a team of debt recovery specialists responsible for the ATO’s most strategic cases, both domestically and internationally. I also played a key role in establishing the Small Business Taxation Division of the AAT, a platform which systemically simplified and made more accessible the process for resolving tax disputes.My approach to resolving disputes is highly collaborative, an antithesis to the confrontational tactics I have often seen stall disputes and entrench positions. Much of my career has involved bringing together stakeholders with wildly different interests to reach commercial outcomes.My interest in demystifying barriers to resolving disputes led me to join Aptum, and extends to my care for developing legal teams in ways that help clients meaningfully engage with the law – with humanness in communication a starting point for considerate, outcome-focused relationships.

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  Practice Lead (Tax Disputes)

  Aptum

  Sep 2024 - Present - Melbourne, Victoria, Australia