ATO probes Hillsong’s finance documents detailing private jet, Disneyland, Nobu spending on church credit cards

The Christian megachurch is being investigated by the Australian Taxation Office’s private wealth team over leaked financial records.

EXCLUSIVE: Hillsong is being investigated by the Australian Taxation Office over documents that revealed claims of financial fraud within the church.

Documents released under parliamentary privilege claimed Hillsong did not declare $80 million income to the ATO and allegedly misused $15.7 million of tax deductible donations to buy Melbourne’s Festival Hall music venue.

Lavish spending on Hillsong credit cards, including a $150,000 four-day trip to Cancun, Mexico, during Sydney’s Covid lockdown attended by founder Brian Houston and a $6500 Cartier bracelet for his wife Bobbie, were also contained in the documents.

Hillsong cards were used to spend $8000 at Disneyland and $2400 at Robert De Niro’s Nobu restaurant in Newport Beach, California, with documents also detailing private jets and business class fights.

When asked about the ATO investigation, the Church said: “Hillsong Church has been assisting and fully co-operating with regulators for some time and we continue to do so.

“Over the past 18 months we have been very open and transparent with our church around our reviews of governance and procedures, and continue to update the church on the many changes we have made – and are making – as we look to honour God and abide by best practice principles in all we do.”

Brian Houston. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Simon Bullard

The hotel where Brian Houston stayed in Cancun, Mexico. Pic: supplied

Details of Hillsong’s spending at the luxury Fairmont resort in Cancun, Mexico.

The ATO has been looking at whether expenses claimed by Hillsong employees were legitimate or if they should have attracted fringe benefit tax.

Investigators from the ATO’s Engagement and Assurance Private Wealth team have also sought the names of people employed by Hillsong Citycare, Hillsong International and its Invorto business.

There are also questions about whether Hillsong used accounting practices to lower its income to claim JobKeeper payments.

The inquiry comes after a six-month Faith On Trial podcast investigation, produced by this masthead, exposed claims about the Church’s operations.

Andrew Wilkie sitting among the Hillsong financial documents he tabled in federal parliament. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Independent Federal MP Andrew Wilkie, who tabled the Hillsong documents in parliament in March, said he was “heartened by reports that the ATO might be investigating Hillsong.”

“The allegations against the church are obviously very serious and warrant the strongest possible response from a range of regulators,” Mr Wilkie said.

“An ATO investigation is now more important than ever because the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission appears to have done little since the Hillsong allegations were aired.

“If the ACNC is on the job, then it needs to give the Australian public an update on the progress of their investigation.” he said.

“In my opinion Hillsong can’t be trusted and more than ever we need the regulators to do their jobs”.

Hillsong spent $8000 at Disneyland. Picture – Christian Thompson.

The ACNC made a “rare” public comment on its investigation into Hillsong in March following the documents release.

However, the ACNC this week said: “Secrecy provisions set out in law apply to our compliance work and prevent us from making comment on the details of our investigations.

“Any investigation we undertake must be thorough, independent, comprehensive, proportionate and consistent with our approach to all investigations. They can be complex and take time to complete.”

The ACNC added that “where relevant and appropriate, we work with other Australian government agencies.”

Hillsong leased Festival Hall to music company Live Nation, the underbidder on the sale, less than two weeks after the claims about the alleged misuse of tax deductible donations.

The Victorian Government was considering spending $5 million to build a new music venue in Melbourne’s Docklands to replace Festival Hall before Live Nation took over the building in March.

The ATO said: “The ATO cannot comment on the tax affairs of any individual or entity due to our obligations of confidentiality under the law.”

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Originally published as ATO probes Hillsong’s finance documents detailing private jet, Disneyland, Nobu spending on church credit cards