Federal government charges Cortland man with tax evasion

CORTLAND — A Cortland man has been charged in federal court with trying to try to evade the 2004 income taxes of $34,075 for a company called PC Surveillance of Cortland.

Stephan Karchut was the sole operator of the business beginning in 2002, when he followed erroneous advice of a person from Florida who told him he was a tax professional and advised him to conceal his income and tax liabilities, the United States Attorney for the Northern District said.

Karchut failed to file to file income tax returns for 2002 through 2004 based on the advice, the government said. Karchut also structured the ownership of PC Surveillance as a supposed limited liability company in order to conceal Karchut’s interest in the business, using various other entities and a purported individual retirement account as nominal owners of the business, the government said.

For the complete story, see Wednesday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com