Embattled hospitality empire Virtical Group deliberately made false claims for millions of dollars in GST refunds based on invoices for construction that did not happen on property it did not own, the tax office has found.

The Australian Taxation Office fined a Virtical group company $1.8 million for “intentional disregard” of the law over GST refund claims that it made for purportedly developing a block of land in Tasmania it did not own, according to a damning audit obtained by The Australian Financial Review.