Grounded actor Paul Hogan strikes tax deal in Australia
Actor Paul Hogan struck a deal with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), on 3 September 2010, which allowed him to return home to his family in Los Angeles. He had been barred from leaving Australia for nearly two weeks after the ATO served him with a departure-prohibition order while he was in the country to attend his 101-year-old mother's funeral.
The star of the "Crocodile Dundee" movies, 70, has been in a dispute with the tax office for five years and is under investigation as part of Australia's biggest probe into offshore tax evasion, Operation Wickenby. The ATO refused to comment on reports that it was seeking tax on A$38 million of allegedly undeclared income from Hogan, saying it did not give details of individual taxpayers. He has never been charged with tax evasion.
The tax office claims he put tens of millions of dollars in film royalties in offshore tax havens, a claim that he has denied. The tax charges arose partly because the Australian government considers Hogan to have been an Australian resident for tax purposes from 1987 to 2005 even though he lived in the US from 1995 to 2002. Hogan now lives permanently in the US. Australian tax authorities claim that in some of the years at issue, Hogan paid no taxes in either Australia or the US.
"Mr Hogan is pleased to announce that the parties have reached agreement on terms (which include the provision of security) which will allow Mr Hogan to return to his family," said the actor’s lawyer Andrew Robinson in a statement. "While the Commissioner and Mr Hogan remain in dispute on more general taxation issues, Mr Hogan continues to protest his innocence and denies any wrongdoing."
Hogan fought to block the release of private records relating to the case, but Australia's High Court ruled on 16 June that they should be made public. The Australian Crime Commission (ACC) wanted access to them in order to finalise its case against Hogan, film producer John Cornell and their accountant.
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