How Not To Commit Tax Evasion

You’re a successful business owner, but you’re running a little short of cash. Do you cut back a bit on your expenditures? Of course not. Do you set up a trust, and write checks to cash, and pocket the money? Well, this is an entry on tax evasion, so I’m sure you know how this turned out.

Here’s the scheme, as the IRS figured it out: The business owner creates a trust. Nothing illegal so far. He stops paying himself wages, and writes checks to cash. He purchases cashier’s checks payable to the trust with the cash. Still nothing illegal, as long as the trust reports the deposits.

But the cashier’s checks are not deposited into the trust. They’re swapped for other cashier’s checks deposited into his bank account or used to pay his expenses. Well, we have a problem, especially if he doesn’t declare these checks as income. He didn’t. Even worse, the checks were listed as “subcontractor fees” and “loans to stockholders” on the corporate tax return. That’s falsifying a corporate tax return, another offense.

The business owner, Brian Troy Aberle, accepted a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion and one count of filing a false tax return. He faces up to eight years at ClubFed, though he’ll likely receive two years or so.

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