Mills’ businesses that were at stake included restaurants, Hummingbird and Los Banditos, Lyall Bay cafe, Spruce Goose, and Wellington Sports Cafe. Inland Revenue was also chasing Mills for unpaid taxes related to businesses that have closed - Siglo and Boston on Blair.
Lennard wouldn’t detail how much Mills had owed Inland Revenue, and what the future of his businesses were. Mills declined to comment.
Lennard, on February 4, told the High Court in Wellington Mills had put his personal assets and businesses up for sale.
During another hearing on February 25, Inland Revenue’s lawyer said a proposed sale in relation to the company that trades as Spruce Goose had fallen through.
“We have been in business for more than 40 years, but the last four years has been particularly challenging,” Mills said in a statement released in late January.
He said his hospitality businesses had been slammed by Covid, high inflation, high interest rates, and a general downturn in central Wellington.
Mills went so far as to try to call for the Revenue Minister and commissioner for Inland Revenue to “intervene” in what he described as a failed negotiation with the tax department.
A spokesperson for Inland Revenue responded: “We are conscious of the financial pressures that individuals and businesses may be under and seek to work with all taxpayers who are in debt to find an acceptable way to resolve those debts while being fair to those who have paid their taxes in full and on time.”
Inland Revenue has been more proactive, recouping unpaid tax debt, having taken a more lenient approach around the time of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, several Wellington hospitality outlets have closed their doors recently, including Pandoro, Myrtle, Mabel’s, Concord Bistro and Bar, Shepherd, Hiakai, and Field and Green.
Jenée Tibshraeny is the Herald’s Wellington business editor, based in the Parliamentary Press Gallery. She specialises in government and Reserve Bank policymaking, economics and banking.
