Tax office prevents Hogan leaving Australia

26 Aug 2010, 7:02 am   -   Source: AAP
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Actor Paul Hogan has been prevented from leaving Australia because of an ongoing row over his tax affairs. (AAP)

Actor Paul Hogan has been prevented from leaving Australia because of an ongoing row over his tax affairs. (AAP)

Actor Paul Hogan has been prevented from leaving Australia because of an ongoing row over his tax affairs.

Actor Paul Hogan has been prevented from leaving Australia because of an ongoing row over his tax affairs.

Hogan's lawyer issued a statement to AAP on Wednesday saying the Crocodile Dundee star was "stunned and very disappointed" by the decision.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) served him with a departure prohibition order after he returned to Australia last week for his mother's funeral, the statement said.
  
Hogan, who lives in America, is embroiled in a row with the ATO over an alleged multi-million-dollar unpaid tax bill.
  
A departure prohibition order can remain in place until it is revoked or set aside by a court, the ATO's website says.
  
Hogan's lawyer Andrew Robinson, of Sydney law firm Robinson Legal, asked for the statement to be published in full, to avoid comment being taken out of context.
  
"We can confirm that during an urgent visit to Australia last week to attend his mother's funeral, Paul was served with a departure prohibition order under the Tax Administration Act which prevents him leaving Australia for any foreign country until his alleged tax debt is paid or otherwise settled," the statement said.
  
"Paul continues to vehemently deny any wrongdoing.

"Following five years of intrusive investigations by the ACC (Australian Crime Commission) and ATO, no charges have been laid.

"He believes that he retained competent advisers in every jurisdiction in which he conducted business and filed returns in accordance with their advice.

"He denies the liability asserted by the ATO and has filed objections which have not been the subject of any response from the ATO.

"He will continue to defend his position through all available legal and other channels.

"He is stunned and very disappointed that the government could treat him as a flight risk.

"He has five children, nine grandchildren and a brother and sister in the country and has travelled frequently (even to appear in two movies) during the period that the investigation has been underway.

"The ACC has previously accepted Paul's unsecured undertaking to return to Australia to assist in their inquiries.

"At his cost he met this undertaking without delay or difficulty.

"The process of detaining Paul in Australia away from his wife and child in Los Angeles has devastated Paul and he hopes that discussions between us and the ATO will lead to a prompt resolution allowing him to return to his family, and thereafter to travel to and from Australia as his personal and business needs require.

"Paul believes that this exercise is a manifestly unfair attempt to gain leverage by the ATO."

The ATO told AAP it would not comment on the case and that it never commented on the tax affairs of individuals.

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Your Comments

monkeyman

tony - from perth, 2 years ago

Leave him alone you A -Holes. We don't even have a functioning goverment, What we paying taxes for and where's it going to go.......Revolution here we come!

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