ST. LOUIS – A used car salesman from Imperial, Missouri appeared in federal court Monday and confessed to hiding over $300,000 in sales commissions from the IRS.
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said Donald Benck pleaded guilty to three counts of making a false statement on an income tax return.
Between 2014 and 2016, Benck recruited acquaintances to collect commissions by check, which they’d cash in and give that money to Benck. His acquaintances would keep a small fee for themselves.
All told, Benck’s acquaintances cashed in about $326,000 in checks.
Benck’s employer gave 1099 forms to his acquaintances since Benck did not report the income on his tax returns or notify his tax return preparer of the commissions.
According to the prosecutors, Benck underreported his income on 1040 forms for 2014-2016. Benck declined to document $31,300 of his income in the 2014 tax year, $131,400 for 2015, and $93,035 for 2016. As a result, the IRS reported a tax loss of $84,092.
Benck will be sentenced on November 18.