This presentation examines the tools and tactics the ATO may use to recover unpaid tax liabilities. Ross Burns, the ATO’s Director of Complex and Strategic Recovery, discusses some case studies based on real-life encounters. The cases, involving large corporate entities and well-heeled individuals will highlight the tactics that the ATO might employ to recover tax debts that would not be recovered by a “bull in a china shop” approach. Along the way, he also highlights some of the more exotic recovery tools which are available to the Commissioner of Taxation and the sometimes novel ways in which they are employed.