Office of Tax and Revenue: Press Release

(Washington, DC) Martin M. Levin, owner of Marty's Card and Gift Corner Inc. located at 3222 M Street, NW, was sentenced last week to 10 days behind bars and jailed immediately on one of ten counts. Jail time was suspended on the other nine counts. Levin was ordered to pay $100,000 in restitution to the District government over the next three years, of which $40,000 was paid at sentencing. He was also placed on five years of supervised probation.

A criminal investigation led by the DC Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) and the DC Office of the Corporation Counsel concluded that Levin collected the sales taxes from his customers and consistently failed to forward those funds to the District. As owner of the corporation, Levin is responsible for the collection of sales tax and the subsequent accounting and submission to the District government by the corporation on a monthly basis. Last week's sentencing resulted from guilty pleas on Aug. 28 by Levin and the corporation for failure to file sales tax returns.

"We cannot allow non-compliance with our tax laws, and we will seek to halt any fraudulent behavior" said Herbert J. Huff, deputy chief financial officer for the Office of Tax and Revenue. "When sales taxes are not paid, not only is the District government cheated, but customers are also cheated. Tax fraud is a costly drain on everyone's resources. OTR has a responsibility to taxpayers to make certain that anyone with a legal obligation to collect DC sales tax does so. Additionally, OTR has a responsibility to make certain that when sales tax funds are collected, they are paid to the DC government."