Gold Coast developer Jim Raptis has converted a $30 million tax bill into just a $6 debt, opening the way for his company to return to business.
Mr Raptis will not say how he managed to have the bill reduced, other than that it was “a lengthy, complex issue (and) at the completion of due legal process, the Tax Office has substantially reviewed the matter”.
It is the second time the Raptis Group has achieved a phoenix-like rebirth from the ashes of financial disaster, with the way now clear for the company to resume trading on the stock exchange.
“This allows Raptis Group Ltd to recommence its core business of property development,” the company said yesterday.
The Tax Office declined to comment.
In 2013 Mr Raptis was hit with the hefty bill after the High Court overturned a Federal Court decision relating to GST payments on the $400 million Chevron Renaissance project in Surfers Paradise.
Raptis Group shares last traded on September 12, 2008, when the company was delisted after it collapsed for the second time in less than two decades, owing almost $1 billion. The group was spared liquidation after striking a deal with creditors.