Timothy Smith, Tax Evasion, Alabama 2009

Tax Evasion Lands Alabama Tire Store Owner in Prison

Washingon, D.C. - Timothy Smith, a resident of Cullman, Ala., has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for tax evasion, announced the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Smith, the owner of College Tire in Hanceville, Ala., pleaded guilty in April 2009 to one count of tax evasion. According to the indictment and other court records, Smith diverted customer receipts from his tire business into two personal bank accounts.

Smith also used, or directed others to use, cash and cashiers’ checks to make substantial principal payments on the mortgage for his vacation home in North Carolina and his vacation home in Pensacola, Fla. In total, Smith diverted more than $430,000 from his tire business to his personal bank accounts and his mortgages.

Smith concealed the funds that were diverted to his personal accounts and his mortgages from his bookkeeper, who prepared both Smith’s business tax returns as well as Smith’s joint personal tax returns. Smith also took substantial fraudulent tax deductions for a purported farm at his personal residence.

As a result, Smith filed false personal and business tax returns for tax years 2000 through 2003. The court records show that Smith agreed to a binding sentence of thirty months in prison and agreed to pay $170,380 in restitution to the IRS, including a lump sum payment of $50,000, which was paid prior to sentencing.

Timothy Smith, the defendant, whose full name is required by law, will serve 30 months in prison for tax evasion. The crime was committed in Hanceville, Ala. Smith pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion in April 2009. The total restitution ordered is $170,380. The case is an example of tax evasion in Alabama in 2009.

The Justice Department and IRS announced the sentencing, along with acting assistant attorney general John A. DiCicco of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, who thanked the special agents from IRS-Criminal Investigation who investigated the case, as well as Tax Division trial attorneys Jed M. Silversmith and Matthew J. Mueller, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Whisonant, who prosecuted the case.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/owner-alabama-tire-store-sentenced-prison-tax-evasion