A former tractor dealer has become the first businessman here in recent history to serve jail time for sales tax evasion.
The businessman, Irvie W. Loudermilk Jr., 55, was ordered by Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley to serve 30 days of a two-year sentence and make restitution to the state of Tennessee in the amount of nearly $15,000. His sentence will be served in addition to similar charges he faces in Rutherford County.
Loudermilk was general manager of the Warren County Kubota dealership when Department of Revenue agents began an investigation of the business. Investigators say the business intentionally failed to pay sales tax to the state between February and September 2011. The amount of sales tax was $18,120.
The money was part of what was required to be remitted to the state. All businesses are required to collect sales tax and then submit it to the state periodically.
“Tennessee’s tax structure depends on taxpayers voluntarily complying with the laws,” said Revenue Commissioner Richard H. Roberts. “Taxpayers who collect but intentionally do not remit sales tax breach the public’s trust and violate the criminal laws of the state.”
Other local businessmen have been convicted of failing to turn in much larger sums and their cases ended with probation and having to repay what they owed the state. However, in Loudermilk’s case, it is alleged he did the same thing at his Kubota store in Murfreesboro making him a two-time offender.
The Kubota dealership in McMinnville has since changed ownership and is no longer affiliated with Loudermilk in any way.