Horner Couple, Tax Fraud, Georgia 2007

A Milledgeville, Georgia, couple, Kenneth Horner, 58, and Kimberly Horner, 53, were found guilty of tax fraud following a three-day jury trial for skimming more than $1.5 million in cash from their business without disclosing the income.

The couple owned Topcat Towing and Recovery Inc. (Topcat Towing), a towing business in Lithonia, Georgia. They were charged with filing false corporate and personal tax returns for the years 2007 and 2008, and were convicted of all four counts charged.

The charges and other information presented in court stated that the defendants skimmed more than $1.5 million in cash receipts from their towing business and deposited those cash receipts into their personal bank account without disclosing the income to their tax return preparer or on corporate and personal tax returns filed with the IRS.

The defendants tried to conceal their cash deposits from the government by 'structuring' their deposits, which is the act of splitting up cash deposits that exceed $10,000 for the purpose of evading a Currency Transaction Report (CTR) from being filed.

In 2007 and 2008, the defendants used their unreported cash, in part, to build a custom home in Conyers, Georgia, that was appraised at more than $900,000. The defendants owe approximately $400,000 in taxes to the IRS for their unreported income.

Their sentencing is scheduled for May 6, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten Sr. The couple was found guilty of tax fraud in the Northern District of Georgia.

According to Acting U.S. Attorney John Horn, the defendants cheated the system and dodged the same basic responsibility that millions of other business owners comply with every year: fairly and honestly reporting their earnings.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/georgia-couple-found-guilty-tax-fraud