Joseph Dalton Hooker described Gaultheria depressa in 1847 from a collection by Ronald Campbell Gunn at Ben Lomond in Tasmania. The species name is Latin depressa flat. Analysis of DNA shows the next closest relative to Gaultheria depressa is the New Zealand species Gaultheria antipoda, which suggests the Australian populations of G. depressa dispersed to Australia from New Zealand. The next closest relative to the two species is the New Zealand species Gaultheria oppositifolia.