PROPERTY developer Jim Raptis has suffered a setback in his dispute with the Tax Office over a $21 million GST bill.
Last Friday, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal made detailed orders setting out how two of three years of GST in dispute should be calculated by the ATO.
The orders follow a decision in early July that largely upheld the ATO's view that the Raptis Group contravened anti-avoidance provisions in the GST Act. But the AAT struck out one of the three years for which the Tax Office was claiming unpaid GST.
The decision is the latest blow for Mr Raptis, whose Raptis Property Group narrowly escaped being crushed by $940 million in debt last year after the collapse of the Gold Coast property market.
While the AAT's decision, handed down by deputy president Philip Hack and senior member Francis O'Loughlin on July 2, disguises the identity of the taxpayer, the circumstances of the case match disclosures Raptis Group made to the ASX in 2008.
The AAT members criticised some aspects of evidence given by Mr Raptis and his advisers, but found their recall of events factually accurate.
''There is, and was, an air of unreality that pervaded the written and oral evidence of these witnesses,'' the AAT members said in their July 2 decision.
''Time and time again, generally irrespective of the question, and at times uncalled for, references to notions of asset protection were raised.'' Mr Raptis could not be reached for comment.
The ATO alleged Raptis Group avoided GST between May 2004 and May 2007 by waiting until construction of its Chevron Renaissance development was almost complete before selling it to a subsidiary.
The AAT upheld the ATO's decision for transactions in 2006 and 2007. But it found Raptis Group not liable for any extra GST on deals before March 2005, when tax law was changed to close the loophole.
