SHELBY TWP. (WWJ) - A Macomb County man will spend 14 months in prison for misreporting his business profits over several years.
U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider announced Tuesday the sentence for 35-year-old Mersed Bebanic of Shelby Township for a "tax evasion scheme" that, from 2011 through 2014, shorted the government a total of $1,224,461.
Schneider said an IRS investigation of the defendant, who owned and operated three businesses -- Century Trucking Inc, Century Trucking Services LLC, and Century Innovations -- discovered the following:
- Bebanic prepared and filed a Form 1040 Individual Income Tax Return with the IRS for the 2013 tax year and underreported his total income.
- Bebanic reported his taxable 2013 income as $34,073 and the total taxes on his income as $10,790 when Bebanic knew his total income for 2013 was substantially higher.
- Bebanic filed a false 2013 individual income tax return knowing that the total income and tax due reported on his 2013 return were false.
- Bebanic provided information to his accountant in April of 2014 that overstated his business expenses, understating his profit. He then signed a false return.
Bebanic, 35, pleaded guilty in November of last year.
“Mr. Bebanic deliberately underreported business income to evade a true assessment of tax due and owed to the U.S. Treasury," said Manny Muriel, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit’s IRS Criminal Investigation, in a statement. "However, Mr. Bebanic’s actions could not escape the attention of IRS-CI and he’ll no longer be able to cheat the American taxpayers.”
In addition to the prison time, Bebanic was also ordered to pay restitution and a $20,000 fine.
