Branson Couple Sentenced In Federal Court For Tax Fraud:

Carl Roger Davis (mug shot GCSO)

A husband and wife from Branson have been sentenced in federal court for corporate tax fraud and filing false tax returns, according to Beth Phillips, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Carl Roger Davis, 74, and his wife, Jo Elaine Davis, 60, were sentenced in separate appearances before U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr on Monday, Nov. 1, 2010. Carl Davis was sentenced to two years in federal prison without parole and ordered to pay $189,892 in restitution. Jo Davis was placed on  five years probation and ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution.

Carl and Jo Davis pleaded guilty on March 31, 2010. Carl Davis was an owner of Bottom Line Employee Services of Missouri, Inc. Employees of Bottom Line worked at the Farmhouse Restaurant in Branson.

The Davis's son, Jeffery Davis, 48, of Branson, was also an employee of Bottom Line and the general manager of the Farmhouse Restaurant. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Oct. 23, 2009, to one year and one day in federal prison without parole for his part in the scheme. The court also ordered Jeffery Davis to pay $62,508 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

Carl Davis admitted that, from 2000 to Jan. 31, 2005, he participated in a conspiracy to defraud the government by impeding the function of the IRS to collect federal employment and income taxes by paying his employees at The Farmhouse Restaurant in cash. The understated amount of taxes for the years 2001 through 2004 amounted to $53,514.

False payroll information, which omitted the cash compensation, was transmitted to a bookkeeper who initially prepared payroll checks and federal employment tax returns for Bottom Line. Carl Davis then filed false Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Returns for Bottom Line with the IRS that omitted the cash compensation from total wages, tips and other compensation, and thereby understated the amount of federal employment taxes due from Bottom Line to the United States. Carl Davis pleaded guilty to filing false Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Returns.

Carl Davis also admitted that his relevant conduct in this case includes filing false individual income tax returns for 2000 through 2004. The tax loss attributable to these false filings totals more than $130,000.

Jo Davis pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return for 2005. Jo Davis admitted that when she filed the bogus tax return, she omitted $68,664 in compensation that she received from Arbonne International, Inc. Jo Davis also admitted that her relevant conduct in this case includes filing a false individual income tax return in 2004 in which she omitted $6,279 in compensation from Arbonne.