Evidently, when you consider yourself not only to be above the law, but to BE the law, paying taxes is beneath you.
Derek Chauvin and Kellie Chauvin, of Oakdale, were each charged by summons in Washington County District Court with nine felony counts of aiding and abetting false or fraudulent tax returns or failing to file returns.
From 2014 to 2019, the Chauvins underreported $464,433 in joint income and owed a total of $21,853 in taxes, according to the charges. With interest and late filing and fraud penalties, they owe $37,868, the complaints said.
Both Chauvins failed to report income from second jobs, Kellie as a photographer and Derek as a security guard, which is a substantial source of income for many law enforcement officers.
He also worked off-duty security nearly every weekend in that time at El Nuevo Rodeo dance club, Cub Foods, Midtown Global Market and EME Antro Bar on E. Lake Street.
During that span, Chauvin failed to pay taxes on nearly $96,000 he earned from El Nuevo Rodeo alone, investigators estimated.
At least one of the security jobs paid in cash, making it easier to avoid paying taxes.
They also fraudulently registered a new car in Florida instead of Minnesota where the car was purchased.
According to the complaint, the Chauvins also bought a 2018 BMW X5 in 2018 for just over $100,000 in Minnetonka but registered it using their Florida address and licenses because it was cheaper. Investigators found the vehicle was serviced in Minnetonka 11 times but never any other places.
For 2016, 2017 and 2018, the Chauvins didn’t even bother to file a return, and they underreported on the years they did file, like 2014 and 2015.
If convicted, each of the nine charges carry a penalty of up to five years and up to a $10,000 fine.
These are state charges for state tax fraud. What I have not seen in any story is whether they filed Federal returns and whether they similarly underreported their income on their Federal returns. Since in Minnesota you must file a matching Federal return to file a state return, it is likely that those Federal returns they did file were also fraudulent. I can’t imagine the State is not sharing this information with the IRS.
The state charges filed are documented here.
Thursday, Jul 23, 2020 · 5:34:41 PM +00:00
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Vega
I want to clarify based on some feedback in the comments. The $464,433 includes three years of not filing state taxes AT ALL, plus underreporting income for 2014, 2015 and 2019. So, the $464,433 includes
- three years (2016, 2017, 2018) of no reporting of any Kellie’s real estate job and photography job and Derek’s police job and security jobs because they failed to file returns
and
- years of underreporting of the photography and security side jobs on the returns they did file. For example, Kellie’s photography side job income of $66,472.75 was not reported in 2014 and 2015.
The detailed charges filed contains much detail and is not behind a paywall.