Court orders talks between Oswals, ATO

A court has ordered ATO talks with Pankaj and Radhika Oswal, and “a number of matters” are on foot.

Radhika Oswal and husband Pankaj with their daughters Vasundhara and Riddhi outside the Victorian Supreme Court.. Pciture: David Geraghty/The Australian.

A court has ordered the Taxation Office to enter talks with flamboyant Indian business couple Pankaj and Radhika Oswal over a multi-million-dollar tax bill that is stopping them leaving the country.

The move this morning follows the in-principle settlement of the Oswals’ $1.5bn-plus legal stoush with the ANZ over the seizure and sale of their Burrup Fertiliser business in 2010, which is being heard before the Victorian Supreme Court.

Federal Court judge Tony Pagone this morning ordered mediation between the Oswals and the ATO before Victorian Supreme court judge John Efthim on September 1, if he is available.

In the dispute before the Federal Court the Oswals are battling a $180m capital gains tax bill relating to the sale of shares in Burrup in 2007.

During the proceeding the size of the bill has been reduced. The amount currently claimed is not clear but is estimated to be less than $100m, including interest and penalties.

However, counsel for the ATO, Michelle Hirschhorn, told the court there were “a number of other matters” on foot between the taxman and the couple.

This included an Administrative Appeals Tribunal case and other matters referred to in a confidential affidavit.

“They’re not the subject of any proceedings at the moment, but it seems to the Commissioner that they’re the matters the Oswals want to discuss,” Ms Hirschhorn told the court.

She said those matters would be better dealt with by face-to-face negotiations and the ATO was happy to meet the Oswals to discuss them in Sydney.

The AAT case was “not ripe for mediation”, she said.

Counsel for the Oswals, Rashelle Seiden said the settlement talks with the ANZ provided her clients with a “window of opportunity” to settle the tax fight.

“It might bring a keener eye by the Oswals to any settlement with the Commissioner,” she said,

She said her clients wanted mediation before Associate Justice Efthim because he has previously mediated the Victorian proceedings with the ANZ.

The Oswals are currently subject to a departure prohibition order issued by the ATO that stops them leaving the country until the tax bill has been paid.