Owner Of Eagan Cleaning Services Faces 24 Tax-Related Charges
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A 63-year-old Eagan man faces two dozen tax-related charges for allegedly failing to file and pay taxes for a cleaning services business he's owned since the 1990s, according to charges filed in the Dakota County.
The county attorney's office says Stephen Edward Matters, the owner of Matters Maintenance Group Inc., My Maid and TLC, faces 24 felony counts of failure to file income tax return (willful evasion).
According to the criminal complaint, Matters was previously charged and convicted of seven of the same charges for failing to pay taxes for his business from 2002 through 2006. But in the summer of 2014, investigators received additional reports of unpaid taxes and began a new investigation.
Authorities say the investigation revealed Matters did not file any Minnesota income tax returns from 2011 through 2014 and failed to make any tax payments from any of the income he received from his business for 2011 through 2014.
Matters is also accused of failing to file withholding returns for 2012, 2013 and the first six months of 2014.
When interviewed over phone by an investigator, Matters allegedly claimed he had not been in the cleaning business since 2012 when he stopped filing returns, but when asked about his bank records that showed business receipts and wages paid for 2013 and 2014, he had no explanation, the complaint said.
If convicted, Matters could face up to 5 years in prison and/or a maximum fine of $10,000 per charge.