Appeal filed against $138m decision

Photo / Nigel Marple

Auckland accountant John George Russell will appeal against a High Court decision that sided with Inland Revenue in its quest to get him to pay a $138 million bill for tax avoidance.

The dispute between the IRD and Russell has spanned decades and came to a head last September when the Taxation Review Authority found Russell guilty of avoidance for not paying tax on earnings he made during 1985 through to 2000 through three companies - Commercial Management, Commercial Management Partnership and Mahalo.

Russell strongly denied this and filed an appeal against the decision in the High Court at Auckland.

He lost that appeal last week and said yesterday that he would now seek leave from the Court of Appeal to file further proceedings.

Russell, who is in his mid-70s, claims he will have to file for bankruptcy if forced to pay the bill.

The original bill was $5 million on $15 million of earnings the IRD claims Russell made from 1985 to 2000. Penalties and compound interest over 25 years have inflated it to $138 million.

Russell was the managing director of Securitibank that collapsed in 1977.