By Poppy Johnston in Canberra

The head of the Australian tax agency will not seek reappointment when his term wraps up next year.

Australian Taxation Office commissioner Chris Jordan has been at the helm of the organisation for a decade and will finish up in the top job in six months.

The commissioner has previously flagged his interest in stepping down at the end of his term.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers thanked Mr Jordan for his service and said Treasury would kick off the search for his replacement.

“I look forward to his continued leadership over the next six months and will have the opportunity to thank him more fully for his significant contribution over the past decade at a later date,” Dr Chalmers said.

Mr Jordan has also served as the chair of the Board of Taxation and held a number of senior roles in government and the private sector.

The commissioner has overseen the organisation through the tumultuous pandemic period and come under scrutiny for the ATO’s role in the PwC tax leak scandal.

Mr Jordan told a parliamentary committee earlier in the year that the tax office acted quickly to stop a handful of multinationals trying to skirt tax laws based on PwC advice.

The consultancy firm has been under fire since a former partner was caught sharing Treasury tax information with multinationals back in 2016.

The incident took several years to come to light and although the tax office was aware of wrongdoings as early as 2016, the investigations were hamstrung by secrecy laws that stopped the agency from sharing information with other departments and the treasurer.