Paul Hogan, shown in October 2008, said he has co-operated with tax authorities and should not have been classified as a flight risk. (Reuters)

Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan has reached a deal with Australian tax authorities that will allow him to return to the United States.

The actor had been banned from leaving Australia because of an Australian Tax Office claim that he owes millions of dollars in unpaid taxes.

Tax authorities had demanded immediate payment of a multimillion-dollar tax bill when he returned last week for his mother's funeral.

Hogan's lawyer says the actor met with officials and came to an arrangement that will allow him to return to his wife and son in Los Angeles. Hogan's wife is Linda Kozlowski, his co-star in the Crocodile Dundee films.

The lawyer said the dispute between Hogan and the Australian tax office dates back five years to an Australian probe into offshore tax havens.

In an interview this week with Australian television, Hogan lashed out at authorities, saying were using him a scapegoat.

"I know they've got no class, and I know they're absolutely desperate to nail some high-profile character with money to justify the expense to the taxpayer," he said.

He denied claims he put money into tax havens, and said he doesn't have the money authorities are demanding, reported to be tax on about $35 million in income.

Hogan, 70, said he should not have been classed as a flight risk.

"I actually came out here at the request of the Australian Crime Commission at my own time and expense to assist them with their inquiries," he said in the interview.

"If I was a tax evader, which I'm not, I must be the dumbest one in the world, because they gave me five years' notice that they'd seized every bit of paper that my tax advisers and lawyers and accountants [had] and said 'we're after you.'"

With files from the Australian Broadcasting Corp.