Taxes Problems for Actor Paul Hogan

Australian actor Paul Hogan, better known as Mick Dundee from the popular Crocodile Dundee movies, apparently has tax problems in Australia. He recently filed a motion in the Central District of California to fight a move by the Australian Tax Office (ATO) to have the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) collect information about his personal finances.

The IRS issued five summonses to three U.S. banks for transaction information on Paul Hogan’s personal and business accounts from 1997 through 2006. Tax attorneys for Hogan claim the summonses are not authorized under the U.S.-Australian income tax treaty and the summonses have not been issued for an authorized purpose under Internal Revenue Code section 7602. Hogan claims none of the businesses in question operate with or in Australia and that he was a resident of the United States six out of the nine years under investigation.

The ATO began their investigation in 2006 after reports surfaced that Hogan and his business partner John Cornell committed tax fraud in Australia by hiding millions of dollars in film royalties in offshore trusts and companies they owned in Chile and the Netherlands Antilles.

Hogan currently lives in Santa Barbara, California and plans on returning to Australia this fall to film a movie. In an interview with Australia’s Network Ten, Hogan jokingly said, “I’ll be arrested the minute I land on the shore, of course, but I have a gun; so be warned.”

If you have tax problems contact the IRS tax attorneys at Brager Tax Law Group, A P.C