Judith Obeid, the wife of Eddie Obeid, is one of six people being pursued by the tax office as part of the case.

Six members of the high-profile Obeid family, who all describe their occupations as "housewife", have not settled a multi-million-dollar dispute with the tax office, a Sydney court has heard.

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) lodged a case against former minister Eddie Obeid's wife Judith Obeid, his daughters Rebecca Joummaa and Gemma Vrana and daughters-in-law Lucia, Maree and Carol Obeid.

The ATO alleges the women owe a total of about $8 million.

The court action follows an investigation of the family's finances, which was prompted by a 2013 corruption inquiry that found Mr Obeid engaged in corrupt conduct.

The family's solicitor, David Deutsch, told the Supreme Court the family wanted to see what "further security" would be offered to hold off the proceedings until other Federal Court matters were dealt with.

Outside court, Mr Deutsch said he was "unable to go into more detail" about the comment.

However, he noted there was a separate Federal Court case underway in which nine Obeid family members were appealing against their tax bills.

In the Supreme Court case, the ATO alleges Mr Obeid's wife Judith owes almost $1.9 million and his daughters more than $150,000 between them.

Paul Obeid's wife Lucia, Damien Obeid's wife Carol and Eddie Obeid Junior's wife Maree allegedly owe about $1.8 million each.

Obeid taxes reviewed after ICAC recommendation

The women's tax assessments were reviewed after the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) recommended an investigation of the family finances.

In 2013, the ICAC found Eddie Obeid and his son Moses corruptly colluded with former mining minister Ian Macdonald about a coal deal involving the Obeid family farm in the NSW Bylong Valley.

A public inquiry heard about $30 million from the deal was put through family trust accounts and paid to family members as "tax free loans".

The inquiry, known as Operation Jasper, heard allegations some Obeid family members owned luxury houses and cars despite being on quite ordinary salaries.

Eddie Obeid told the inquiry he trained as an accountant after moving to Australia from Lebanon, and he did not believe his family did anything "shonky".

Eddie and Moses Obeid are not involved in any of the court cases involving the ATO