Close Cookie Notice

Welcome to the MIT CISR website!

This site uses cookies. Review our Privacy Statement.

Working Paper hero
Working Paper: Vignette

The Australian Taxation Office: Creating Value with Advanced Analytics

The Australian Tax Office has leveraged AI to nudge productive work-related expense claim behavior in real time.
By Ida A. Someh, Barbara H. Wixom, and Robert W. Gregory
VIGNETTE

A description of a firm’s approach to an IT management issue, written according to a prescribed template

Abstract

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) was a large government department in Australia that in 2015 established a dedicated program called Smarter Data to cultivate advanced data analytics capabilities. This vignette describes how the ATO created an AI solution that nudged taxpayers toward productive tax claim behaviors in real-time. The ATO intended for the solution to improve Australia’s complex tax lodgment (i.e., filing) process by making the process easier for taxpayers to accurately lodge and for auditors to equitably oversee. In 2018, the nudging resulted in $113 million in changed claim amounts. This vignette is second in a series of stories that illustrate value creation using AI.

Access More Research!

Any registered, logged-in user of the website can read many MIT CISR Working Papers in the webpage from 90 days after publication, plus download a PDF of the publication. Members of MIT CISR Patron and Sponsor organizations get access to additional content.

About the Researchers

Profile picture for user iasadi@mit.edu

Ida A. Someh, Lecturer in Business Information Systems, UQ Business School at The University of Queensland, Australia

Profile picture for user rwg54@miami.edu

Robert W. Gregory, Verizon Associate Professor of Commerce, McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia

MIT CENTER FOR INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH (CISR)

Founded in 1974 and grounded in the MIT tradition of rigorous field-based research, MIT CISR helps executives meet the challenge of leading dynamic, global, and information-intensive organizations. Through research, teaching, and events, the center stimulates interaction among scholars, students, and practitioners. More than seventy-five firms sponsor our work and participate in our consortium. 

MIT CISR Patrons
AlixPartners
Avanade
Axway, Inc.
Collibra
Pegasystems Inc.
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Standard Bank Group (South Africa)
The Ogilvy Group
MIT CISR Sponsors
Allstate Insurance Company
Amcor
AmerisourceBergen
ANZ Banking Group (Australia)
AustralianSuper
Banco Bradesco S.A. (Brazil)
Banco do Brasil S.A.
Bank of Queensland (Australia)
BlueScope Steel (Australia)
BNP Paribas (France)
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bupa (Australia)
Cabot Corporation
CarMax
Caterpillar, Inc.
CEMEX (Mexico)
Charles River Laboratories, Inc.
CIBC (Canada)
Cochlear Limited (Australia)
Commonwealth Superannuation Corp. (Australia)
Cuscal Limited (Australia)
CVS Health
DBS Bank Ltd. (Singapore)
Doosan Corporation (Korea)
Fidelity Investments
Fomento Economico Mexicano, S.A.B., de C.V.
Fortum (Finland)
General Mills, Inc.
Gilbane Building Co.
Henkel AG & Co. (Germany)
Johnson & Johnson (J&J)
Kaiser Permanente
King & Wood Mallesons (Australia)
Koç Holding (Turkey)
Mercer
Nasdaq, Inc.
National Australia Bank Ltd.
Nomura Holdings, Inc. (Japan)
Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. Systems Consulting Division (Japan)
Pacific Life Insurance Company
Pioneer Natural Resources USA Inc.
Posten Norge AS (Norway)
Principal Financial Group
Procter & Gamble
QBE
Ramsay Health Care (Australia)
Raytheon Technologies
Reserve Bank of Australia
SC Global Tubular Solutions
Scentre Group Limited (Australia)
Schneider Electric Industries SAS (France)
State Street Corp.
Stockland (Australia)
Suncorp Group (Australia)
Tetra Pak (Sweden)
Trinity Health
Truist Financial Corporation
UniSuper Management Pty Ltd (Australia)
Uniting
USAA
Webster Bank, N.A.
Westpac Banking Corporation (Australia)
WestRock Company
Wolters Kluwer
Zoetis Services LLC
Find Us
Center for Information Systems Research
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Sloan School of Management
245 First Street, E94-15th Floor
Cambridge, MA 02142
617-253-2348