Restaurant owners charged with theft, filing false tax returns

This release is compliments of the Washington State Department of Revenue

OLYMPIA — The state filed charges in Chelan County today against Wenatchee restaurant owners who are accused of falsifying tax returns in order to hide more than a quarter-million dollars in taxes they collected but didn’t pay the state.

In the charging papers, Todd M. Mill and Natalie Anne Mill are accused of grossly underreporting business income from Applewood Grill and Katz Chop House in order to hide $256,620 in retail sales tax they should have reported and paid. The state Attorney General brought the charges on behalf of the Washington State Department of Revenue (Revenue).

Revenue collects the retail sales tax for state agencies and local governments that provide vital public services, such as education, public health, law enforcement and social services.

Revenue found the discrepancy during an audit of the two businesses for 2008 through 2012.

Both are being charged with one count of theft and 18 counts of filing fraudulent tax returns. Both defendants will be arraigned on March 18 in Chelan County Superior Court.

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