Australian Tax Office hits HT&E with $179m NZ tax bill

The Australian Tax Office has applied $49m in penalties on media company Here, There & Everywhere over the way it accounted for the sale of some of its New Zealand assets.

HT&E – which currently owns Adshel, Conversant Media and ARN – told the ASX that it had been hit with penalties of $49m, on top of an extra $102m tax bill and $28m in interest. The company says it is ready go to court to battle the penalties.

HT&E’s tax bill

The penalties amount to 50% on the tax adjustments for the years 2009-2015 and are applied by the ATO as a punitive measure when submitted tax returns do not stand up to scrutiny.