Paul Hogan. Photo / Getty Images
SYDNEY - Lawyers for actor Paul Hogan are meeting with the Australian Taxation Office this afternoon in the hope of enabling the Crocodile Dundee star to leave Australia so he can resume his normal life.
Hogan, who returned to Australia to attend his mother's funeral last week, has been
prevented from leaving under an order by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) because of an alleged multimillion dollar tax bill.
Some media outlets have reported the bill is more than $100 ($142) million - a figure Hogan's lawyer, Andrew Robinson, of Sydney law firm Robinson Legal, is reluctant to comment on at this stage.
"I can see how people have calculated that," he told AAP on Friday morning.
"It's a very large amount. But I can't confirm or deny it. It's a hugely confidential matter."
Hogan, 70, who lives in the United States with his wife Linda Kozlowski and their son Chance, has been embroiled in a row with the ATO for the past five years.
Mr Robinson said that when he meets ATO officials on Friday afternoon he will seek to get the departure prohibition order revoked.
Hogan could otherwise be "stuck in Australia for years", he said.
"The hope is that we can work some reasonable terms to let Paul resume his ordinary life.
"Unless he can do that, I don't see how it's in anyone's interest to lock him up in Australia, where he can't work, can't earn, can't do anything even to pay any taxes ultimately found to be outstanding.
"The primary issue at the moment is to get him released so he can get back to his family."
- AAP
