Company secretary/treasurer charged with 14 violations of South Carolina tax laws

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South Carolina Department of Revenue agents arrested a York woman on April 30 and charged her with 14 tax-related offenses.

Charges against Joretta Anderson, 57, include one count of breach of trust; six counts of failure to collect, account for, and pay over a tax; and seven counts of tax evasion, according to a news release from the Revenue Department.

Anderson was the secretary and treasurer of a York County company, but the Revenue Department did not identify the company. In her role, Anderson was responsible for managing the company’s bank accounts, controlling daily financial transactions, issuing employee payroll checks and filing company tax returns, according to arrest warrants.

From 2015-2021, the warrants allege that Anderson failed to report more than $1 million of employee wages and failed to pay over to the SCDOR approximately $49,434 of South Carolina income tax withheld from employees’ pay. She also issued W-2s, including to herself, that allowed employees to claim refunds on taxes that were not paid to the state, the news release said.

In addition, the Department of Revenue says Anderson used her access to her company’s bank account to redirect more than $169,000 to her personal bank account, of which approximately $96,838 was never returned to the company or used on its behalf. Anderson failed to report that money and other undisclosed sources of income on her state individual income tax returns.

From 2015-2021, the warrants allege that Anderson failed to report more than $200,000 of additional income on individual returns, resulting in the evasion of approximately $16,982 of South Carolina Income Tax.

If convicted, Anderson faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $10,000 plus the cost of prosecution for each count of tax evasion and failing to pay withholding tax, and up to 10 years in prison or a fine at the discretion of the court for the charge of breach of trust. She was being held earlier this week in the York County Detention Center pending a bond hearing.

The Revenue Department encourages anyone who knows or suspects a person or business of committing a state tax crime to submit a Tax Violation Complaint Form (pdf) to [email protected] or mail it to the attention of Fraud Adviser at the South Carolina Department of Revenue, 2070 Northbrook Blvd., Suite B7, North Charleston, SC 29406.