Burgertory boss Hash Tayeh hit with $1m tax bill over company debts
The boss of Victorian fast-food chain Burgertory has been hit with a $1 million tax bill for debts allegedly run up by 12 companies where he was formerly a director.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has issued notices holding Melbourne businessman Hash Tayeh personally liable for the debts.
It launched legal action in the County Court in February seeking to recover the money from him.
In documents filed with the court the ATO alleged the companies had not paid the full amount they owed in withholding tax on employee wages, GST and superannuation contributions at various times while Mr Tayeh was a director between October 2020 and March last year.
Tax law allows the ATO to issue people who run companies with director penalty notices holding them personally liable for tax debts run up by the business while they were at the helm.
In a string of cases lodged with the Federal Court in April and May, the ATO has also applied to have all but one of the same dozen companies wound up over their tax debts.
The court appointed a liquidator to one of the companies, Box Hill BRG, earlier this month, but the remaining cases have yet to be decided.
Speaking to the ABC Mr Tayeh accused the Australian Tax Office of "harassment" and told the ABC most of the companies were owned and directed by other people who were Burgertory licensees.
"This is not a tax issue, it's a campaign of targeted harassment against me," he said.
"Burgertory is still growing and we are about to announce our expansion to the Philippines in the coming days."
He said he was unaware of the County Court lawsuit until contacted by the ABC but had received the director penalty notices that made him liable for the debts and that they were with his lawyer.
Mr Tayeh is Palestinian and has been a prominent member of the pro-Palestinian movement in Melbourne. He is facing a separate legal battle over his activism.
In March, he was charged with using insulting words in public for allegedly stating "all Zionists are terrorists" at a rally in Melbourne's CBD last year.
The businessman is fighting the charges, which are punishable by up to two months in prison, and told the ABC they were "baseless".
Mr Tayeh's property has also been damaged in two arson attacks.
A petrol bomb damaged the front door of his Templestowe Lower house in April last year, while his Caulfield North outlet was destroyed in a deliberately lit fire in November 2023.
The ATO declined to comment.
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