A New Hyde Park couple has been arrested on charges they did not pay more than $166,000 in taxes from cigarette sales at a Citgo gas station they co-own in Bayside, Queens prosecutors announced Thursday.
Rajpatee Rampersaud, 45, and her husband, Naren Rampersaud, 52, who co-own Merrick Gas Services, Inc., face up to 15 years in prison on felony grand larceny and tax evasion charges and felony counts of operating without a certificate of authority to collect sales tax, prosecutors said.
“Tax evasion and operating without a valid Certificate of Authority are serious crimes that can result in arrest, prosecution and severe fines,” said Jerry Boone, finance commissioner of the state Department of Taxation in a statement, adding the Rampersauds “flaunted the law and operated illegally and without adequately resolving their tax debt.”
Officials said the alleged tax evasion totaled $166,810 and took place between September 2009 and May 2014.
“This is yet another example of business owners allegedly lining their own pockets with collected sales tax money that should have been remitted to the government,” Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said in a statement. “The city and state rely on collected taxes to fund programs and services for the public. Stealing tax revenue is a crime and makes every New Yorker a victim.”
