South Florida Liquor Store Owner Guilty of Tax Evasion

Miami, Florida – A Lake Worth, Florida man who did not report his liquor store’s cash sales to the IRS pled guilty yesterday in federal district court in West Palm Beach to tax evasion.   

Ajay Kumar, 60, was the sole officer and registered agent of Kruthi, Inc, a company registered in Florida, and doing business as “Tri County Discount Liquor.”  Kumar attempted to evade taxes by keeping records of the liquor store’s income in two separate retail point-of-sale systems.  Kumar reported the income from one of these systems to his accountant.  Kumar recorded the cash sales on a separate stand-alone cash register and did not report this income.  As a result, Kruthi’s return for tax year 2017 underreported the liquor store’s gross receipts by approximately $557,268.

During the hearing in West Palm Beach before U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks, Kumar admitted that he failed to report all his liquor store’s gross receipts and that he owed substantial income tax in addition to the amount declared on the 2017 tax return that he jointly filed with his wife. 

Judge Middlebrooks will sentence Kumar on November 4, at 11:00 a.m.  Kumar faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Matthew D. Line, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Miami Field Office, announced the guilty plea. 

Assistant U. S. Attorney Marc Osborne is prosecuting this case.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case no. 21-cr-80091.

###