Following EY tax advice cost Billabong founder $50m
The founder of surfwear brand Billabong has lost his bid to overturn the Tax Office’s order that he and his companies cough up an extra $50 million in tax after advice he took from EY Australia to minimise his bill backfired.
Gordon Merchant – who is separately suing EY and the firm’s private tax leader, Ian Burgess, alleging negligent advice – and his companies were found by Federal Court Justice Thomas Thawley last week to have engaged in tax-minimising strategies to offset $85 million in capital gains from the $111 million sale of bioplastics manufacturer Plantic Technologies in 2015.
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