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Thomas Schunke, the owner of D&D Restaurant and Pub in New City, was charged this week with five felony counts of criminal tax fraud and one felony count of grand larceny after turning himself into the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance and the Rockland County District Attorney's Office.
Schunke, 38, of West Nyack, allegedly collected approximately $480,000 in sales tax from customers between 2012 and 2018 and failed to pay that money to the state. He also is charged with failing to file sales tax returns between 2014 and 2018.
"As a matter of law, business owners must turn over sales taxes collected from customers," acting Rockland County District Attorney Kevin Gilleece said in a statement "By purposefully evading his tax obligations, this defendant defrauded the state and all law-abiding taxpayers.
New York State Commissioner of Taxation and Finance Michael Schmidt stated, ”business owners who disregard their obligation to pay the sales tax they collect violate the trust of their customers, deprive the communities where they operate of revenue needed for vital services and put similar businesses at a competitive disadvantage,”
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