A popular South Australian seltzer company has collapsed after a voluntary tax audit backfired, leaving them with an unpaid bill from the ATO.<\/p>\n
South Ave, a popular alcoholic seltzer brand from South Australia, was plunged into voluntary administration on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
It comes days after the company, which produces pre-mixed vodka and seltzers, celebrated its fifth birthday. <\/p>\n
Co-founder and chief executive Reno Marrasso told Adelaide Now the company completed a voluntary tax audit last year, only for the ATO to demand a fast-tracked repayment plan of $13m in unpaid excise duties. <\/p>\n
The seltzer company was founded in 2021 by Mr Marrasso, Scott Grieve and Sophie Sexton, and generated almost $19m in annual revenue, the majority of its sales coming from South Australia, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia. <\/p>\n
Mr Marrasso said the company had no choice but to file for voluntary administration despite paying off \u201ca good chunk of that debt\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor a period with the ATO we kept being told we were in credit with excise, and we thought this doesn\u2019t make sense, so we ended up choosing to do a voluntary audit. Unfortunately, as they say, sometimes honesty isn\u2019t the best policy, but we did a voluntary audit and figured out we actually had a $13m excise debt,\u201d he told the outlet. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe went on a three-year payment plan, and that was going really well \u2013 in the last 12 months alone we were able to pay down a good chunk of that debt.<\/p>\n
Mr Marrasso said due to the voluntary administration, the ATO \u201cchanged their term from three years to 12 months\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd for us a 12-month time frame is never going to be feasible because it would just completely destroy the cash flow of the business. There\u2019s no way to pay $1m a month essentially on that debt, plus trade with paying more excise on new product, especially while we are still growing at such a rapid,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Mr Marrasso said despite the business filing for voluntary administration, it would continue operating under the control of the administrators. <\/p>\n
He said he would develop a repayment plan with creditors \u2013 a deed of company arrangement proposal (DOCA) \u2013 allowing him to retain control of the company again. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe brand is still firing \u2013 it\u2019s probably the busiest it\u2019s ever been and we\u2019re still growing at a rapid rate,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe looked at this as an opportunity to restructure and recapitalise the business, to actually get some more funds in and to then take it to that next level.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mr Marrasso explained there would be no changes to its staff roster as the DOCA proposal is organised. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not looking at any change in staffing \u2026 we have 18 staff members and they\u2019re all keeping their jobs,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve already got a road map to take the business out in a DOCA proposal to then take us into the next phase of growth for the business.\u201d <\/p>\n
NewsWire has contacted South Ave and the ATO for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A popular South Australian seltzer company has collapsed after a voluntary tax audit backfired, leaving them with an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":961752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22956,420386,529687,184773,256328,529685,529710,435354,529717,529696,529702,377545,378964,529682,529698,507937,529691,529711,529722,529677,529695,3443,6014,529714,382345,529680,267980,439346,529697,529716,529703,7781,529707,17106,24457,168874,8849,529679,49923,4836,208,43,529690,401170,529694,45755,29705,529718,529676,289546,44,46634,187436,379867,402656,397038,529684,701,529701,529719,35557,529713,529681,529706,1124,529699,64187,529693,529688,445988,529715,529692,378912,390517,529678,529689,377831,529708,19424,529686,529704,44731,529721,529705,387333,378945,386821,384165,529683,529720,376952,529709,395118,41,39,42,40,576,529712,529700,660,39493,377045,3439],"class_list":["post-961751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-12-months","tag-13m","tag-18-staff-members","tag-1m","tag-256328","tag-a-13m-excise-debt","tag-a-12-month-time-frame","tag-a-deed","tag-a-doca-proposal","tag-a-fast-tracked-repayment-plan","tag-a-good-chunk","tag-a-month","tag-a-period","tag-a-popular-alcoholic-seltzer-brand","tag-a-popular-south-australian-seltzer-company","tag-a-rapid-rate","tag-a-repayment-plan","tag-a-road-map","tag-a-three-year-payment-plan","tag-a-voluntary-audit","tag-a-voluntary-tax-audit","tag-adelaide","tag-administration","tag-almost-19m","tag-an-opportunity","tag-an-unpaid-bill","tag-annual-revenue","tag-any-change","tag-beloved-aussie-drink-brand","tag-beloved-seltzer-brand-south-ave","tag-co-founder-and-chief-executive-reno-marrasso","tag-comment","tag-company-arrangement-proposal","tag-control","tag-credit","tag-creditors","tag-days","tag-doca","tag-excise","tag-firing","tag-growth","tag-headlines","tag-its-fifth-birthday","tag-its-sales","tag-its-staff-roster","tag-last-year","tag-millions","tag-more-excise","tag-mr-marrasso","tag-new-product","tag-news","tag-newswire","tag-newswire-news","tag-no-changes","tag-no-choice","tag-no-way","tag-pre-mixed-vodka-and","tag-queensland","tag-scott-grieve","tag-seltzers","tag-sense","tag-some-more-funds","tag-sometimes-honesty","tag-sophie-sexton","tag-south-australia","tag-south-ave","tag-staffing","tag-such-a-rapid","tag-tax-audit","tag-that-debt","tag-that-debt-mr-marrasso","tag-that-next-level","tag-the-administrators","tag-the-ato","tag-the-aussie-pre-mix-and-seltzer-company","tag-the-best-policy","tag-the-brand","tag-the-busiest","tag-the-business","tag-the-business-filing","tag-the-cash-flow","tag-the-company","tag-the-control","tag-the-doca-proposal","tag-the-last-12-months","tag-the-majority","tag-the-next-phase","tag-the-outlet","tag-the-seltzer-company","tag-the-voluntary-administration","tag-their-jobs","tag-their-term","tag-three-years","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-trade","tag-unpaid-debt","tag-unpaid-excise-duties","tag-victoria","tag-voluntary-administration","tag-wednesday-it","tag-western-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=961751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/961752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=961751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=961751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=961751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}