- Nick Robertson has links to an extensive property portfolio.
- In 2020 he put four of his companies into liquidation with large debts to Inland Revenue.
- The liquidator of the four companies sued him over the debts.
- Robertson says he is now settling his GST and company income tax liabilities.
A Christchurch businessman linked to a property empire owes Inland Revenue an alleged $1.8 million in GST and company income tax.
Nicholas Steven Robertson, 35, came to notice after four Christchurch-based companies linked to him went into voluntary liquidation in 2020 owing large amounts to Inland Revenue.
Robertson, who is linked to the ownership of about 40 commercial and residential properties and two bars, disputes one of the large tax debts and says he is settling the others.
An unusual feature of the company failures was Robertson vacating his directorships a few months before the companies were put into liquidation and installing new directors who were based in Auckland with no apparent business experience.
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Robertson told Stuff he first met the new directors through his Auckland accountants. They had no role in the companies and were paid for the use of their name. The installation of new directors did not alter his liabilities as a former director.
He had put in new directors before the liquidations due to a grey area around new rules for finance companies, one of which he operated, he said.
“We weren’t sure whether a director of a finance company could also be a director of a liquidated company.”
Robertson’s accountant, Saresh Chand of Gilligan Rowe & Associates in Auckland, said he could not comment on the dummy directors because of client confidentiality.
The first failed company connected to Robertson was Stripes Group, a commercial painting concern that worked on Te Pai, the new Christchurch convention centre. Stripes went bust in February 2020 owing Inland Revenue $300,000 in GST.
AARON WOOD/STUFF
The Government chases welfare and tax debt. How do the numbers compare? (First published February 2017)
In April the same year, Robertson-linked property concern Investek collapsed with alleged tax debts of $904,000 (Robertson disputes $700,000) and only four months later, his other property company, Cushty Ltd, collapsed with a debt to Inland Revenue of $47,845.
The last of the failures was Investek 2019 Ltd, which went bust owing Inland Revenue $592,000 in GST in November 2020.
Investek 2019, Investek and Cushty were property companies that bought damaged earthquake properties in Christchurch, revamped them and sold them.
The liquidator of the four companies, Grant Reynolds of Reynolds & Associates, in Auckland, was told the companies failed due to high financing costs, development costs, anticipated sale values not being realised and related parties withdrawing support.
Apart from the companies in liquidation, Robertson was a director and shareholder of four companies – Robertson Commercial, Robertson Apartments, Corsair Industrial and NNL Industrial – which still own about 40 commercial and residential properties. He began to distance himself from the companies in 2021 by resigning his directorships and transferring his shares to the company Robertson Trustee Group.
His mother, Carol, became the director of the four companies and also owns all the shares in Robertson Trustee Group.
Stuff
Inland Revenue is chasing Christchurch property investor Nick Robertson for unpaid taxes.
Robertson has an interest in two bars in Christchurch: Moon Under Water and 12 Bar Brews.
Grant Reynolds began proceedings against Robertson in 2022 over the tax debts owed by Investek 2019. Claims in regard to Investek were put on hold pending the litigation over the Investek claims.
The legal action against Robertson was over alleged breaches of his duties to the companies by selling the properties and putting the companies into liquidation before settling the GST liability, Reynolds said.
Reynolds said he was close to a settlement with Inland Revenue and hoped to have it concluded by the week ending September 9, 2022.
Robertson said the decision to liquidate the companies was made during the uncertain times of early Covid-19 and when “all the world seemed to be going to hell”. A large debt owed to Stripes was not going to be paid and that had a “domino” effect, he said.
Asked why he had not sold some of his properties to pay the GST bills, he said that had now been done but Inland Revenue had taken months to get back to him.
“We tried to settle straight away,” he said.
Robertson said he had paid all unsecured creditors of the companies (other than Inland Revenue) and nothing was left after paying the mortgages.
“I wasn’t running away from anything,” he said.
He had distanced himself from his property empire to minimise risks to his assets from fines for financial regulations that remained uncertain, he said.
