Foreign buyer fined $508k, ATO freezes land with 111 forced sales

The ATO is undertaking a major crackdown to ensure that all residential land sold to foreigners is built in within the time frame specified. A foreign investor who ghosted the ATO over land banking an empty block has been hit with a $508k court fine and a property freeze. It comes as 111 offshore owners have been forced to sell. Offshore investor Fengqin Li has been hit with a $508,000 Federal Court penalty and asset freezing orders after ignoring tax office queries over a vacant residential block left empty for more than four years. RELATED: Foreign investor ‘forced sale’ warning: $370k landbanking bust Foreign investors allowed to buy Australian land have a condition that they build a home on it within four years of getting approval to buy. Court documents show that in 2011 Ms Li, a resident of the People’s Republic of China, had bought vacant land in Berwick that is now known as 8 Rogers Close. They were given no objection to the purchase, provided they built a home on the site within four years — with the Federal Court this week ruling in favour of the ATO’s claim the Chinese national had failed to do so. Australian Taxation Office assistant commissioner Jennifer Moltisanti sai...