Neville Walton wasn’t expecting forgiveness from the Australian Tax Office.
Then the publican discovered a legal way that he could wipe a massive chunk of his historic hotel’s unpaid $350,000 tax bill, and keep himself pulling beers behind the bar.
“I’m sure [anybody would] jump at that opportunity,” Mr Walton says.
Mr Walton’s story highlights a growing trend in Australia, where more small business owners are using a relatively new provision under the Corporations Act to claw their way out of business debt and keep trading.
The corporate regulator says there is no evidence so far that small business restructuring (SBR) laws are facilitating bad business practices, yet some still have reservations over the scheme’s implications.