Paul Hogan slams ATO witch hunt as Wickenby probe cracks down on offshore share traders

Iconic actor Paul Hogan has slammed the ATO’s Operation Wickeny tax probe, claiming he has been denied a “fair go” and declaring he cannot afford to pay even 10% of what he owes to the tax office.

Last week, the ATO hit Hogan with an order preventing him from leaving Australia until he pays his tax bill or settles. The tax bill has been reported to be $37.6 million, although penalties and interest could mean Hogan’s tab is now as high as $150 million.

“I can’t pay 10% of it, and if they keep me here, seize whatever assets I have… they can declare me bankrupt,” Hogan told the Nine Network’s A Current Affair show last night.

Hogan says he has already paid too much tax and is sick of being “smeared” as a tax dodger.

Hogan said he remained an Australian resident for tax purposes until the mid-1990s, when he was ordered to become a US tax resident by US tax authorities.

“But I did take the necessary legal steps to ensure that I was sending the money back here,” Hogan told the Nine Network.

Hogan said he had been advised by his lawyers not to disclose the size of his tax bills – he would only say it was between $3 million and $150 million – but said he simply couldn’t pay.

“And I can tell you quite honestly, I can’t pay it, I can’t pay 10% of it,” he said.

“I’m not as rich as people think I am – they think I did a movie that did $300 million at the box office and I get that.”

“I do not want to get special treatment,” he said.

“All I ever wanted was a fair go. Give me the benefit of the doubt – give me the chance to say this is a witch hunt, and it’s wrong.”

Exactly what the ATO makes of the media attention surrounding the dispute is not clear, but the agency is not slowing down with its offshore tax haven probe, known as Operation Wickenby.

According to a report in the Australian Financial Review, the ATO has obtained Federal Court orders freezing the assets of five offshore companies it claims failed to disclose $30 million incomes derived from share trading in Australian companies between 1999 and 2009.

The companies, in Samoa, the Bahamas and Britain, are said to hold substantial shareholdings in companies associated with one taxpayer, who cannot be named.

The ATO wants to recover just under $30 million in back taxes, interest and penalties from the companies.