Massive bill for land tax
A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE Russian businessman who was previously forced to sell his $10m Gold Coast property empire when he was prosecuted for breaching foreign investment rules, has now been hit with a hefty land tax bill.
Ruslan Eshchenko, 53, (pictured) who lives in a palatial home in Tallai in the Gold Coast hinterland revealed details of his fight over taxes on his $31m property portfolio when he filed an appeal in the Brisbane Supreme Court.
Court documents state that the Commissioner of State Revenue (CSR) Mark Jackson slapped Mr Eshchenko with a $880,802 bill for “landholder duty” on January 24, alleging this was the duty on land worth $15,657,000, which equals 51 per cent of his total property worth of $30.7m.
Mr Eshchenko and his then company Barosun were prosecuted for eight breaches of the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act in 2004, and his company was fined $10,000.
He was given a two-year good behaviour bond with no conviction recorded in Southport Magistrates Court and the federal government forced the sale of eight blocks of land.
In the current Supreme Court case the CSR alleges Mr Eshchenko is liable to pay the duty because on June 21 last year he acquired 10,000 redeemable preference shares in Maylake Properties Pty Ltd (Maylake). The shares carry the right to the total amount distributed to members upon the winding up of Maylake.
Maylake owns four office buildings on the Gold Coast and a cattle grazing property at Avoca Vale, near Kingaroy.
They include Kay House in Southport, worth $8.7m; Elkhorn Centre West, worth $2.85m, and Elkhorn Centre East, $7.5m, both in Surfers Paradise; the Scarborough Centre in Southport worth $5.3m, and Oomoo Downs in Avoca Vale worth $6.35m, court documents state.
Maylake was set up in 1997 and was previously owned by Mr Eshchenko’s Moscowbased father Leonid. In 2013 Ruslan Eshchenko acquired 10,000 redeemable preference shares in Maylake, giving him 49 per cent of any distribution if the company is wound up.
The parties must file a certificate of readiness for trial on or before January 27.