They make 'em dumb in Australia too

[Demosthenes]

Croc Dundee to tax authorities: 'Come and get me' Fri Jul 4, 3:15 PM ET

SYDNEY, Australia - "Crocodile Dundee" star Paul Hogan challenged Australian tax authorities Friday to track him down in the United States after a newspaper report that he was under investigation for tax evasion.

The 68-year-old actor has repeatedly denied that he dodged taxes.

The Australian national newspaper reported that Australian tax authorities had asked for help from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service in obtaining Hogan's banking records. Four companies related to Hogan have been ordered to hand over documents, it said, citing court documents.

"Come and get me," Hogan said with a grin, He spoke to Australia's Ten Network television outside his Santa Barbara, Calif. mansion, delivering an obscenity-laced statement addressed to the Australian Taxation Office

Hogan is fighting the IRS involvement, arguing that it is being used to obtain documents that Australian officials could not lawfully obtain, his Australian lawyer David Rydon told the newspaper.

Hogan said he was returning to Australia in September to make a movie.

"I'll be arrested the minute I land on the shore, of course, but I have a gun; so be warned," he joked.

Neither Hogan nor his lawyer could be immediately contacted for comment Friday. The Australian tax office does not comment on individual cases.

[grixit]

A life in art imitates life? The real Crocodile Dundee was killed trying to run a police roadblock.

[webhick]

I recall Paul Hogan doing a movie a few years ago where, IIRC, he was going to owe considerable taxes for some reason or another and found a way around it by engaging in a phony same-sex partnership with his best friend.

[RyanMcC]

US taxman on hunt for Paul Hogan files - July 04, 2008

AUSTRALIAN authorities have stepped up their pursuit of actor Paul Hogan over alleged tax liabilities, enlisting the help of the US Internal Revenue Service to order three American banks to hand over nine years' worth of his personal banking records.

The IRS has also demanded the records of four companies related to Hogan, court documents filed in Los Angeles reveal.

But Hogan is fighting the move, and has initiated proceedings to have the "ludicrous" summonses set aside, arguing that the Australian Taxation Office is on a "long-distance fishing expedition" and is using the IRS to seek records it would not be able to lawfully obtain in Australia.

One of the companies the tax office believes relates to "the Australian income tax liabilities of Paul Hogan" - Platinum Services - is used to pay Hogan's household staff and utilities bills, such as gas and electricity, in the US, the court documents say. And three of the four companies in question "conduct no business with and/or in Australia".

Hogan is the most high-profile target of the $300 million Operation Wickenby investigation into tax fraud and evasion, set up three years ago. Details of several offshore trusts and companies holding $40 million in proceeds from films such as Crocodile Dundee were leaked to the media in 2005, but no action has been taken against Hogan, his artistic collaborator John Cornell or their financial adviser, Tony Stewart, all of whom have denied any wrongdoing.

It is not known why the IRS, acting on behalf of the Australian tax office, issued the summonses in May to City National Bank, HSBC and the Union Bank of California demanding 9 1/2 years' worth of "account opening documents, signature cards, monthly statements, copies of canceled checks (front and back), deposit slips and all other deposit or withdrawal documents for all transactions that exceed $50,000".

Hogan's Australian-based lawyer said yesterday his client regarded the actions by the ATO as an unlawful attempt to obtain irrelevant material.

"Mr Hogan is in the invidious position of not being able to publicly comment on any issues because of legislative constraints which may or may not prohibit him from public disclosure," Robinson Legal's David Rydon said in a statement to The Australian.

"The unfairness of a position where a person may be the target of a government investigation but is prevented by statute from publicly defending himself or justifying his actions is obvious."

The July 21 edition of Forbes magazine reports on Hogan's decision to sue the IRS, and says he was a US resident for two-thirds of the nine years in question. He now lives in the Santa Barbara area, the magazine notes. Hogan sold a substantial land holding in Byron Bay in 2006 and two years earlier sold his $11million waterfront property in the Sydney suburb of Parsley Bay.

The ATO has used its tax treaty with the US as the basis for the IRS action. As well as the financial records of Hogan, it is demanding the records of Bangalow Productions, Bangalow Films, Pine Mountain Productions and Platinum Services.

Hogan is the sole owner of Platinum Services, Bangalow Productions, and Bangalow Films. The three companies were established in the US and do no business in Australia, Hogan says in a personally signed declaration.

Another document filed with the declaration outlines the reasons why the summonses should be quashed.

"This petition to quash seeks to end a long-distance fishing expedition by Australian authorities. Through a series of summonses to various United States banks, the Australian tax authorities seek personal and corporate financial information for reasons that remain unclear," the court documents obtained by The Australian state. "As shown below, the summonses at issue are not relevant or material to any authorised tax investigation and are contrary to United States public policy. Thus the summonses should be quashed."

Hogan's US lawyers argue that there are four reasons the summonses are invalid. They say US policy supports the privacy of an individual's financial records.

"The United States does not favour the disclosure and dissemination of financial records," the court documents say. "Such policy cannot be disregarded, especially where the disclosure and dissemination is to a foreign sovereign for a foreign tax investigation."

Second, they say the summonses seek records that are beyond the time limits when action may be taken for assessing additional tax. Tax authorities in both the US and Australia have a limited time in which to act to correct a tax return. However, if they believe there to be fraud or evasion, there is an unlimited period in which to take action.

"Because there is no indication of fraud by Hogan or the Hogan companies, the four-year statute of limitation is controlling," the court documents say.

"Thus ... it is ludicrous under Australia's Income Tax Assessment Act that the summonses seek financial records from nearly 10 years ago. Such records would simply not be available to the tax authorities in Australia."

The third ground stated for quashing the summonses is that they do not meet US requirements, and the lawyers say proper administrative steps have not been followed.

Finally, it is argued that the Hogan summonses are not being used "relevant to an authorised purpose".

"There is no explanation as to why these documents (the financial records) are relevant. There is no claim they are necessary to ascertain the correctness of any return, to make a return where none has been filed, to determine the liability of any person for any internal revenue tax."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... public_rss

[RyanMcC]

I recall Paul Hogan doing a movie a few years ago where, IIRC, he was going to owe considerable taxes for some reason or another and found a way around it by engaging in a phony same-sex partnership with his best friend.

"Strange Bedfellows" (2004)

A life in art imitates life? The real Crocodile Dundee was killed trying to run a police roadblock.

Rodney Ansell

August 5, 1999

The Australian bushman who was the inspiration for the 1980's Hollywood film, Crocodile Dundee, has been killed in a shoot-out with police.

Police said Rodney Ansell shot dead a police sergeant but a second officer had returned fire killing the former buffalo hunter.

Police had been looking for Mr Ansell, 44, following an attack on a family near Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory, which left two people injured.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 412364.stm

[RyanMcC]

Stroppy Paul Hogan battles tax office 'bastards' - July 05, 2008

A DEFIANT Paul Hogan had a typically plain-spoken and blunt message for the Australian Taxation Office yesterday: "Come and get me, you miserable bastards."

As the ATO enlisted the help of the Internal Revenue Service in the US to pursue the actor for allegedly undisclosed tax liabilities, a bemused Hogan insisted he had paid more than enough tax - a figure he estimated to be in excess of $100million - in Australia.

Hogan, who lives in a mansion in Santa Barbara, two hours north of Hollywood, said he had grown tired of what he called persecution by the ATO, and now the IRS.

"They're both after me," he said. "I feel pretty important, actually.

"I'd like to make a deal with the tax office that I'll give them every cent I made, both me and (partner John "Strop") Cornell, if they give me every cent they made out of my movies. As a guy who brought millions into Australia, they should build a statue at the tax office to me and send me a Christmas card. I lived in America and still paid tax in Australia for 4 1/2 years when I could have paid tax in America, and it would have been cheaper, because I thought we needed the money back home more than they needed it here"

Hogan spoke out following revelations in The Australian yesterday that the ATO had asked for the IRS to help three years after details of Hogan's financial affairs were leaked to the media, outing him as being under investigation as part of Operation Wickenby, the $300million investigation into tax fraud.

The IRS ordered three US banks to hand over details of Hogan's bank accounts as well as four related companies. Hogan is fighting the move in the Los Angeles courts, saying the tax office is trying to get documents it would not lawfully be able to obtain in Australia.

Hogan railed against Operation Wickenby, a taskforce headed by the Australian Taxation Office, working in conjunction with other agencies such as the Australian Crime Commission.

"If you become a victim or a target for the ACC, the crime commission, you're not allowed to say you are, you're not allowed to say anything they said to you or that you've even been questioned, or you can go to jail," Hogan said. "If the ACC interrogated me, then I couldn't tell you what they asked me or I can't even admit they did because I could go to jail, but the ACC has some dickhead who can leak information to the press and anyone else who's interested." Hogan said he was being targeted only because he was "high-profile and because I've got money".

His comments are in contrast to a statement he released in 2006 when he joked that the last problem he had with the tax office was over a "chook raffle".

Hogan said he did not keep up to date with the back and forth between the ATO and the IRS and his lawyers. "I don't give a shit about it - I've got nothing to worry about," he said. "I've paid more than every cent I owe, I paid too much, I paid tax there when I didn't have to. "If everyone paid as much tax as me, we'd be the richest country in the world."

Hogan had a dig at the ATO over its only scalp from Operation Wickenby, music entrepreneur Glenn Wheatley, who was released on home detention in May after almost a year in jail.

"I know the people of Australia sleep well knowing Glenn Wheatley's off the street," Hogan said. "It's terrifying to think he would be on the streets." Hogan said that he would be shooting a film in Australia later this year. "I'll be arrested the minute I step on the shore," he joked.

Despite Hogan's jocular reaction when approached by journalists yesterday, he is fighting the IRS move, and has started legal action to have the "ludicrous" summonses set aside. He is arguing that the ATO is on a "long-distance fishing expedition" and is using the IRS to seek records it would notbe able to lawfully obtain in Australia.

The IRS, acting on behalf of the ATO, issued summonses in May to City National Bank, HSBC and the Union Bank of California demanding 9 1/2 years worth of "account opening documents, signature cards, monthly statements, copies of cancelled cheques (front and back), deposit slips and all other deposit or withdrawal documents for all transactions that exceed $50,000". The IRS is also demanding the records of Bangalow Productions, Bangalow Films, Pine Mountain Productions and Platinum Services. Hogan is the sole owner of Platinum Services, Bangalow Productions and Bangalow Films.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 01,00.html

[grixit]

I things have in fact gone as Hogan claims then, yeah, it's an injustice. But of course we only have his word for it. On a separate note, i do not believe it is appropriate to have intergovernmental operations at a subministerial level. It should be the Justice Department issuing the US supoenas, the IRS should only be involved if there is evidence of Hogan evading US taxes.

[Nikki]

I things have in fact gone as Hogan claims then, yeah, it's an injustice. But of course we only have his word for it. On a separate note, I do not believe it is appropriate to have intergovernmental operations at a subministerial level. It should be the Justice Department issuing the US supoenas, the IRS should only be involved if there is evidence of Hogan evading US taxes.

The information sharing and enforcement actions are governed by bilateral treaties.

Your beliefs are only relevant with respect to religion and predicting horse races.

Don't start going all Stevsie, now.

[Demosthenes]

The IRS is looking into four of Hogan's companies in the US. I wonder where his other 19 companies are located. According to the 2007 Australian court documents surrounding Hogan's tangle with the Aussie tax authorities, he has $40 million in offshore trusts spread out among 23 companies that he never reported on his Australian tax returns.

Court documents reveal Hogan, Mr Cornell and Mr Stewart are linked to two Federal Court cases that have been launched to try to stop Australian Crime Commission investigators using seized documents as part of the watchdog's investigations into illegal tax schemes.

The documents list 23 companies, including Paul Hogan Enterprises and Stewart Property Trust, that have been subject to investigations by the ACC as part of Operation Wickenby.

The court case has been brought by two men - one described as a financial adviser, and the other as his client, an offshore resident who used to live in Australia.

...

Schedule A lists 23 companies. Company searches reveal that directors of the companies include Hogan, Mr Stewart and Mr Cornell. Several members of Hogan's family are also named as company directors.

Articles from 2007 make it sound like Hogan's financial advisor is cooperating with the tax collectors.

I wonder if Hogan pays US taxes.

[Demosthenes]

Never mind, answered my own question. Most of the money was moved to Switzerland.

http://www.messandnoise.com/discussions/180795

[Doktor Avalanche]

Never mind, answered my own question. Most of the money was moved to Switzerland.

http://www.messandnoise.com/discussions/180795

Another Swiss account? God, I thought I was stuck in the 80s.

[RyanMcC]

Never mind, answered my own question. Most of the money was moved to Switzerland.

http://www.messandnoise.com/discussions/180795

Another Swiss account? God, I thought I was stuck in the 80s.

June 30, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The Justice Department said late Monday it is seeking a federal court order authorizing the Internal Revenue Service to request information from Switzerland-based UBS about U.S. taxpayers who may be using Swiss bank accounts to evade federal income taxes. The Justice Department is seeking permission to allow the IRS to serve "John Doe" summons, which are used to obtain information about possible tax fraud by people whose identities are unknown. The move was prompted by a statement from former UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld, who claimed that UBS employees assisted wealthy U.S. clients in concealing their ownership of assets held offshore. Birkenfeld estimated that UBS had about $20 billion of assets under management in "undeclared" accounts for U.S. taxpayers. Birkenfeld pleaded guilty in June to conspiring to defraud the IRS by assisting UBS clients avoid U.S. reporting requirements on income in Swiss bank accounts, according to the Justice Department.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/d ... dist=msr_8

[Judge Roy Bean]

LOL!!

"The United States does not favour the disclosure and dissemination of financial records," the court documents say. "Such policy cannot be disregarded, especially where the disclosure and dissemination is to a foreign sovereign for a foreign tax investigation."

This guy is seriously confused.

[RyanMcC]

That statement made me chuckle too.

[webhick]

My mother seems to recall that when he and his wife divorced, his wife was screaming bloody murder for a cut of the off-shore accounts. I haven't had the time to confirm this.

[Demosthenes]

Crime body suspects Hogan of travel sham
Deborah Snow and Elisabeth Sexton

August 22, 2008 - 12:03AM

THE Australian Crime Commission's suspicion that Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan misrepresented his tax residency status between 2002 and 2005 to dodge tax is a focus of its pursuit of the star, court documents released yesterday show.

The documents say the commission alleges "a scheme or conspiracy" between Hogan and his tax adviser, Tony Stewart, to produce "sham" travel movements. The aim, according to a summary of the commission's claims prepared by the pair's lawyers, was to allow money to be paid to Hogan when he "was not a tax resident of any country and therefore the payment was free of tax".

Federal Court judge Arthur Emmett released the papers after ruling Hogan and Mr Stewart had lost their long-running bid to keep their identities secret.

The two have been battling a joint probe by the commission and the Tax Office's Operation Wickenby, which is targeting suspected tax fraud and money laundering by a number of wealthy Australians.

Yesterday's release identifies accounting firm Ernst & Young as a major provider of tax and legal advice to Hogan and Mr Stewart.

Michael Outram, the commission's executive director of operational strategies, describes Wickenby in a June 2007 affidavit as "an investigation of national and international significance into allegations of tax fraud and money laundering".

Neither Hogan nor Mr Stewart has been charged.

The focus of the court battle thus far has been their lawyers' bid to gain access to documents accumulated by the commission as part of the Wickenby probe.

Hogan has vehemently denied not paying his taxes and said recently: "I am insulted to be called a tax cheat."

David Rydon, the solicitor for Hogan and Mr Stewart, declined to comment yesterday.
In a submission dated December 7, 2007, the commission wrote: "The issue … is the steps taken by P (Hogan), with the assistance of A3 (Mr Stewart), to misrepresent his tax residency status to authorities in Australia and the United States for the purpose of avoiding liability to taxation."

A counter-submission argues the commission's allegation of sham travel "ignores the legitimacy of the tax planning involved in any international travel by (Hogan) …"

Ernst & Young's involvement is described in affidavits by a principal in its tax division, Marcus Davis. Mr Davis joined the firm in 1998 from a firm where Mr Stewart had also worked. An affidavit from Mr Davis lists three Sydney lawyers and three US lawyers who gave advice about Hogan's affairs.

An Ernst & Young spokeswoman said: "We are confident that all of the work undertaken by EY would not be a matter for Project Wickenby."

[Demosthenes]

Paul Hogan loses legal bid to keep documents secret
Susannah Moran | August 30, 2008

ACTOR Paul Hogan has lost his bid to keep secret documents that reveal his use of a string of offshore trusts and multi-million-dollar transactions that authorities believe were a sham.

Federal Court judge Arthur Emmett ruled yesterday that Hogan was not entitled to have a confidentiality order placed over two volumes of documents that are on a court file in a case he brought against the Australian Crime Commission. His barrister immediately told the judge that Hogan would appeal and Justice Emmett agreed not to release the documents for 14 days.

Hogan is fighting to keep private a schedule of inferences, a dossier written by the crime commission in which it outlines why it can be inferred that Hogan was involved in a series of tax evasion schemes. Also included are seized documents relating to Hogan's financial and tax affairs that the crime commission says back up its case.

Last week hundreds of pages of documents were released by the court after a series of confidentiality orders were lifted. The last of those orders, covering the schedule of inferences and some correspondence between Hogan's lawyers and the crime commission, were lifted yesterday.

Hogan and his financial adviser, Tony Stewart, are suspects in the nation's $300million tax fraud probe known as Operation Wickenby. It is alleged Hogan failed to declare income, improperly claimed deductions and misrepresented his residency to avoid paying tax.

Hogan and Stewart have denied any wrongdoing. No charges have been laid against them.

Hogan's lawyers have said the actor was engaged in legitimate tax planning. Hogan employs lawyers and accountants in Australia and the US to advise him on his tax, court documents show.

[Doktor Avalanche]

ACTOR Paul Hogan has lost his bid to keep secret documents that reveal his use of a string of offshore trusts and multi-million-dollar transactions that authorities believe were a sham.

Ouch. Let the reaming begin.