Wildwood Tax Adviser Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion Charges

Frank L. “Tiger” Zerjav, a Wildwood tax adviser, has plead guilty to charges of federal income tax evasion from 2001 to 2004. Zerjav, 39, was indicted earlier this month by the U.S. Attorney's Office for Eastern District of Missouri.
 
Zerjav pled guilty to four felony counts of tax evasion before United States District Judge Catherine D. Perry, according to a news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The case, which was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, shows Zerjav attempted to evade approximately $183,000 in taxes over the three year period.

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000, according to the U.S. Attorney’s news release.

Court documents show that Zerjav and his father, Frank L. Zerjav Sr., were principals in two companies: Zerjav & Company, an accounting firm which prepared business and personal tax returns, and the Advisory Group USA, which offered tax planning and asset protection strategies to clients, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office. Zerjav advised clients at the firms, including preparing and reviewing their returns.

The District Attorney’s Office explained Zerjab’s operation in a news release:

Clients of the Advisory Group included many small business owners and self-employed individuals.  They were typically advised to create S-corporations into which the income from their businesses would be funneled.  Since the net income from an S-Corporation flows through to the owner for inclusion on the owner’s personal income tax return, there is an obvious incentive to maximize deductions on the S-corporation return.  Tiger Zerjav used this strategy in preparing his tax returns for the years 2001 through 2004.

    Tiger Zerjav admitted that he directed his income into several S-corporations and failed to include a substantial amount of that income on his own tax returns.  Court documents showed that Zerjav reported taxable income of $230,219 for those years although his S-corporations received some $901,081 in income.  Zerjav admitted that many of the expenses claimed on the S-corporations tax returns were personal in nature and should not have been deducted.  Some of the payments were for a condominium at the Lake of the Ozarks, a boat, two Seadoo watercrafts and a home entertainment system.  In the indictment charging Zerjav, he is accused of attempting to evade approximately $183,000 in taxes over the four year period...

Sentencing for Zerjav’s case is set for March 26, 2013.

"To build faith in our nation's tax system, honest taxpayers need to be reassured that everyone is paying their fair share,” said Stephen Boyd, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in St. Louis, in a news release. “We all pay while some attempt to swindle the government."

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Wildwood Tax Adviser Indicted for Tax Evasion