Australian Taxation Office Commissioner Chris Jordan defends himself in stoush with Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan

AUSTRALIA’S tax commissioner has defended himself amid an ongoing stoush with Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan, who called him a “boofhead” and a “mongrel”.

• Paul Hogan launches scathing ATO attack

AUSTRALIA’S tax chief has defended himself amid an ongoing stoush with Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan, who called him a “boofhead” and a “mongrel”.

Australian Taxation Office commissioner Chris Jordan infuriated the movie star earlier this year after suggesting Hogan had paid “tens of millions” of dollars in a settlement to end a long-running legal battle.

RELATED: PAUL HOGAN SLAMS ATO “MONGRELS”

Hogan hit back, threatening to sue the Australian Taxation Office and saying: “I didn’t pay tens of millions to get out of anything. Not only have they breached confidentiality, but they’ve lied.”

Mr Jordan told the Herald Sun he would “love to clear that up” but would rather do it under parliamentary privilege than during his appearance at the National Press Club.

“What I can say to you is there is very often two sides to a story, and historically people come out strongly with one side,” he said.

The tax boss said he was “intrigued” by comments from Hogan’s lawyer, who suggested he would need a whiteboard to explain the “settlement”.

Mr Jordan then raised a separate tax evasion investigation where a lawyer representing the suspects said the ATO was “like the Gestapo”.

“The other side is that the court found it was the most disgraceful behaviour they’ve ever seen involving money-laundering, tax fraud and insider trading,” Mr Jordan said.

“So, you know, sometimes there’s two sides to a story, and I can’t always tell the other side.”

Australian Taxation Office Commissioner Chris Jordan addresses the National Press Club in Canberra. Picture: Andrew Taylor/AAP

Mr Jordan also used his Press Club appearance to warn that the ATO would crack down on Australians who “fudge the figures” and claim dodgy deductions.

As millions of Australians start filing their tax returns, Mr Jordan said there would be stronger scrutiny and enforcement of the $22 billion claimed for work expenses.

He said 6.3 million people had claimed work clothing expenses totalling $1.8 billion in 2014/15, meaning almost half of taxpayers would have needed work uniforms or special gear like sunglasses and hats.

“While many of these claims would be legitimate, I wonder how many people have assumed that they can just claim $150 regardless,” Mr Jordan told the Press Club.

Amid fears multinational companies were dodging their tax obligations, Mr Jordan also said the ATO was collecting about 94 per cent of corporate tax it was supposed to get from large companies, with the six per cent gap costing the economy $2.5 billion.

“Approximately 91 per cent (is) coming involuntarily, and 3 per cent through compliance interventions. And from all indications, this 91 per cent is around global best practice, and many countries aspire to this level of compliance,” Mr Jordan said.

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