Rich-list Wu family asset freeze dates to amended 2019 tax assessment

The tax office’s mystery freeze of $206m in assets belonging to the wealthy Wu family, founders of Nature’s Care, dates to a 2019 amended assessment, documents show.

Alex Wu, in the foreground, at a golf event. Picture: News Corp Australia

The Australian Taxation Office’s freeze order for $206m worth of the wealthy Wu family’s assets came off the back of an amended assessment of income tax for the 2019 financial year, fresh court documents reveal.

It comes after the Federal Court granted the tax office permission to freeze assets connected with rich-listers including Alex Wu, Jina Chen, Michael Wu and Jack Wu at a hearing without notice in late December.

While mystery surrounding the case continues, some new light can be shed on the matter after the court released the ATO’s originating application on Thursday. That application simply links the request to freeze the family’s assets with a 2019 amended income assessment.

“On the grounds stated in the accompanying affidavit, the applicant (ATO) claims upon the following tax-related liabilities becoming due and payable, judgment for the applicant against the first respondent in the sum of $206,881,641.68 in respect of the first respondent’s tax-related liabilities for an amended assessment of income tax for the year of income ended 30 June 2019,” the document read.

The freezing order covered some of the family’s assets which include property in Ingleside, Killara and Hornsby in NSW along with bank accounts with the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ and Westpac.

The first respondent in the application is listed as Alex Wu, the second respondent is Jina Chen, the third is Michael Wu and the fourth is Jack Wu.

Each member of the family was issued with an order that said “they must not remove from Australia or in any way dispose of, deal with or diminish the value of any of your assets in Australia … up to the unencumbered value of AUD$206,881,641.68 … other than to make payment to the Commissioner of Taxation”.

In addition to property and bank accounts, the order covered companies including Nature’s Care Holdings, AJMJ Global Investments, AJMJ Properties No. 2 and Vital Global Investments.

Jina Chen and Alex Wu are little-known founders of vitamin company Nature’s Care, ranked at 195 in last year’s The Richest 250 with an estimated wealth of $658m.

Their sons, Michael and Jack, also sold their shares in the business and have since bought into Hive Gaming – a platform for e-sports athletes.

The family have extensive business dealings in Australia, including in commercial property, the Federal Court hearing in Sydney during a hearing on the Friday before Christmas.

They were represented by barrister Anne Horvath SC, who told the court the family owned a property portfolio worth $250m.

“My clients are people with substantial connections to Australia and (they have) very significant business interest in Australia,” Ms Horvath said.

As a result of the unexpected freezing order, Ms Horvath said wages for 200 workers connected with one of the family’s companies had stalled.

“(Payments are) not for the purposes of dissipating assets … but rather for supporting business in which my clients are invested in Australia,” she said.

Ultimately Federal Court judge Nye Perram urged the parties to arrive at an arrangement to allow payments to go through and lawyers for the ATO said it was “never their intention to stop the payments” for workers.

According to the court’s latest orders in the matter, the family must give two days written notice for “discharging business expenses” including payroll, maintenance construction and development.

The matter will return to court early this year.