Sans Pareil Estate was a small winery located in Hanwood that received millions in GST refunds from the tax office. Photo: Supplied.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) paid more than $12 million in GST refunds to a small Griffith winery over 14 months, despite the business telling the ATO when it registered for GST that its expected annual turnover was less than $2 million, an exclusive Region investigation has found.
Court documents have revealed the ATO made 15 GST refund payments to Hanwood-based Sans Pareil Estate between April 2021 and June 2022. The largest single payment was $2.5 million.
On one occasion, the ATO paid Sans Pareil $1.73 million based on an invoice for more than $19 million worth of wine. The supplier later told the ATO it had never issued that invoice for that amount, which also contained an incorrect Australian Business Number (ABN).
Region asked the ATO whether it generally checked if ABNs were correct before making million-dollar GST refund payments.
The ATO did not answer the question.
Aaron Salvestrin, 31, launched Sans Pareil Estate from a shed in Hanwood in 2018 and remained its owner and director until the company collapsed into liquidation four years later, with an alleged debt to the ATO of more than $30 million. For most of its operation, the wine business had less than five employees.
Earlier this year, Mr Salvestrin pleaded guilty to three fraud offences after admitting his business altered supplier invoices to claim millions of dollars in GST refunds from the ATO to which it was not entitled.
He is due to be sentenced in the NSW District Court in November.
How the GST refunds were claimed
According to a statement of facts tendered in court, Mr Salvestrin registered Sans Pareil as an export business and told the ATO it was selling large quantities of wine to a European buyer.
Rather than producing its own wine, Sans Pareil bought bulk wine from other wineries and marketed it under its own brand.
Businesses generally do not charge GST on goods exported overseas, meaning Sans Pareil could claim back GST it had supposedly paid when purchasing bulk wine from Australian suppliers for export.
Court documents state that in an interview with the Australian Federal Police (AFP), Mr Salvestrin described Sans Pareil as a “virtual winery” and said his role was as the “jack of all trades”.
He admitted his company used PDF software to alter genuine invoices issued by wine suppliers and inflate the figures on them so it could claim GST refunds to which it was not entitled.
Aaron Salvestrin was once touted as a rising star of the industry. Photo: Sans Pareil.
The $19 million invoice
When Sans Pareil applied for GST registration, it told the ATO its expected business turnover was between $150,000 and $1,999,999.
Yet, according to court documents, it later submitted a single invoice to the ATO for just over $19 million worth of wine allegedly purchased from Kingston Estate Pty Ltd.
The ATO promptly paid Sans Pareil a GST refund of more than $1.73 million.
During a later audit of Sans Pareil, the South Australian winery told the ATO it had never issued the invoice.
It also said the document contained an incorrect ABN and that the entity named on the invoice did not even sell bulk wine.
More multi-million dollar invoices
The statement of facts revealed Sans Pareil also submitted 10 invoices to the ATO purportedly from Victorian-based Andrew Peace Wines, for bulk wine purchases ranging from $5 million to $24 million. The invoices claimed more than $105 million in purchases.
The ATO paid GST refunds on most of those invoices.
During the later audit, Andrew Peace Wines also told the ATO it had not issued any of them.
The ATO finally initiated the audit of Sans Pareil in June 2022, asking the company to provide documents proving its five largest tax invoices filed in May 2022 were genuine.
“I am very nervous,” Mr Salvestrin told an associate while the audit was ongoing in August 2022, according to the statement of facts.
The associate later told auditors: “The export business was non-existent and no wine left the country”.
In an interview with the AFP, Mr Salvestrin admitted many of the invoices he submitted to the ATO were false.
He also admitted directing an employee, identified in the statement of facts as “BP”, to enter incorrect sales data into Xero.
Mr Salvestrin said BP was completely unaware of the fraud and that he “felt bad” about involving the employee.
During the audit process, the ATO rejected three claims for GST refunds between August and October 2022, shortly before the company went into liquidation.
Audit and liquidation
The ATO audit concluded Sans Pareil fabricated tax invoices to claim GST refunds.
Court documents state that while Mr Salvestrin claimed the GST refunds went back into his business, the audit found a number of purchases were considered “personal” and not business related. This included $31,000 for private jet service Navair and $101,000 for a universal home theatre system.
In total, Sans Pareil made $17 million worth of GST refund claims.
It owes the ATO just over $30 million, including interest and penalties.
Liquidator documents listed 21 vehicles owned by the wine company, including a rare McLaren P1 which had a door sill signed by F1 star Daniel Ricciardo. It was sold for $1.47 million.
An annual update report provided by the liquidator in December 2025 revealed that just $2.8 million of the more than $30 million owed had been recovered in just over three years since the company’s collapse.
A McLaren P1 sold for $1.47 million as part of the liquidation of Sans Pareil. The vehicle had a door sill signed by F1 star Daniel Ricciardo. Photo: Road and Track.
What did the ATO know?
Region asked the ATO what checks, if any, it carried out on the invoices submitted by Sans Pareil before approving the refunds.
We also asked whether it had recovered any of the more than $30 million owed and whether it expected to recover the money.
“The ATO is unable to comment on specific cases due to our obligations under taxpayer confidentiality laws,” a spokesperson said.
Region also asked how common it was for businesses reporting turnover below $2 million to receive GST refunds of more than $1 million.
The ATO did not respond.
The ATO also declined to answer questions about what safeguards it had to identify businesses claiming unusually large GST refunds compared with their reported turnover, and whether it had changed its GST refund processes as a result of the Sans Pareil case or other similar cases.
An ATO spokesperson provided the following general comments.
“Australia’s tax system relies on self-assessment, with every taxpayer responsible for lodging correct returns – and most taxpayers do the right thing. The system is designed to make it easy for legitimate businesses to access GST refunds without unnecessary delays. Unfortunately, a small minority of taxpayers seek to exploit the system, and the ATO has sophisticated tools and intelligence capabilities to detect and address this behaviour,” the spokesperson said.
“The ATO takes attempts to defraud the GST system seriously and works to both recover revenue and prevent asset dissipation. GST fraud is not a victimless crime. It diverts funds that would otherwise support essential services such as healthcare, infrastructure, and education.
“We continually strengthen and refine our risk detection capabilities in response to changing behaviours and emerging risks, helping ensure taxpayers pay the right amount of tax in accordance with the law.
“We use all the tools at our disposal to recoup fraudulently obtained funds. This can include issuing director penalty notices, garnishee bank accounts, issuing departure prohibition orders and prosecution actions, as well as working with the AFP on proceeds of crime actions.”
If you know more about this story, contact Oliver on 0498 843 181, or by email: [email protected]
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