Care Beyond Measure pursued by tax office

The ATO will present its case to the Victorian Supreme Court on Tuesday, amid reports the business owes employees thousands of dollars.

The Bendigo Advertiser has been contacted by four ex-employees and one current staff member, who all say owner Sam Tayeh owes them thousands of dollars for back pay, superannuation and redundancy payments.

One ex-employee, who is owed money for leave entitlements and other benefits, says the experience has been devastating.

"I don't want any more than he owes me but this has been going on for too long," she said.

"This is causing myself and my family a lot of stress."

Another worker echoed her sentiments.

"I have a family I need to think about," he said.

All five workers also said their wages were frequently paid late, causing them significant financial stress.

"It's not good when you have your car payments bouncing and don't have enough money in your account," one said.

Health and Community Services Union organiser Ginny Adams, who has been dealing with staff concerns for the past 15 months, said Mr Tayeh didn't inform his employees their wages would be late.

"These guys are finding out when they get to the checkout with a trolley-load of food that there's no money in their bank, when they were supposed to be paid days ago," she said. 

Another worker said when they first started at organisation last year staff weren't being paid their correct penalty rates.

However, in statements to the Bendigo Advertiser Mr Tayeh said the financial irregularities were due bad bookkeeping by a Bendigo accountant, which he was considering taking legal action against.

"Our newly appointed Chief Financial Officer has found, in our opinion, irregularities in our booking ... We have totally replaced our financial team and have an auditor on hand to support it as well as our new CFO," he said.

He said he was negotiating with the tax office to have the court action quashed, and expected it to be withdrawn by Friday.

He conceded staff weren't paid the correct penalty rates at one point last year, due to a delay in adjusting weekend rates changes, but said all staff had been paid their due back pay.

Mr Tayeh admitted he had a "cash-flow problem" but said he was operating in a tough financial market.

“We’re doing the best we need to do to run a business in a particularly challenging environment," he said.

The Australian Taxation Office said they could not comment on specific cases being pursued.

However, in a statement a spokesman said the tax office always sought to hold discussions with business owners before seeking to wind up a company.

"The ATO recognises that even viable, well-run businesses occasionally experience short term cash-flow issues and we will continue to work with them," the statement said.

"If individuals or businesses fail to pay their debts, the ATO will adopt a timelier and firmer approach to prevent debts from escalating."