Carpet installation is a nontaxable service, but one Little Canada business owner charged his customers a sales tax anyway — and then kept it, according to charges filed in Ramsey County District Court.
Robert John Tester, 58, was charged in March with 14 tax-related felonies, including failing to file an income tax return, failing to pay income taxes and failing to pay sales taxes.
Tester owns Carpets-Installed.com, a carpet installation and removal business that he operates out of his home in Little Canada. The law requires any tax collected on nontaxable services to be refunded to customers or paid to the state, but Tester did neither, charges said.
A state Department of Revenue audit depicted in the criminal complaint revealed that Tester had collected $107,000 in sales tax from 2009 to 2012.
After being audited in 2012, Tester continued to actively evade paying taxes. He kept the sales tax until March 2016, when the state revoked his sales tax permit for other taxable goods and services, the charges said.
The department estimated Tester owes an additional $14,800 from actions between 2013 and 2016, according to the complaint.
Tester’s next court appearance is scheduled for June 7. He does not have any prior tax-related felonies.