Frankfort man sentenced to one year in prison for under-reporting taxes

FRANKFORT, IL — A Frankfort resident and owner of three Chicago-area child care and transportation businesses has been sentenced to one year in prison for underreporting $1.47 million on his income tax return, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois.

Jeremiah Johnson, 46, owned New Beginnings Academy, New Beginnings Child Development and Epic Transportation. From 2015 to 2020, Johnson earned more than $1.47 million in income from operating those businesses but did not report the money on his personal tax return, a news release said.

Johnson filed individual tax returns for those years but reported lower W-2 wages and some rental income, a news release said. Failing to report the additional income from his businesses caused him to prepare and file materially incorrect individual income tax returns.

During the same period, Johnson also failed to file corporate tax returns or make required employer and employee deductions for federal income tax, Social Security tax and Medicare, prosecutors said.

Johnson pleaded guilty in federal court earlier this year to filing a false tax return. In addition to the one-year and one-day prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly on Wednesday fined Johnson $10,000 and ordered him to pay $123,391 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.