A Kannapolis businessman was arrested Monday on felony and misdemeanor tax charges filed by the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
Jaya Bhaskar, 58, of 2001 N. Cannon Blvd., Suite B, Kannapolis, was charged on August 24, 2020 with three counts of Embezzlement of State Property and five counts of Willful Failure to File North Carolina Corporation Income Tax Returns.
The arrest warrants allege that Bhaskar, President and responsible person of Smart Business Connections, Inc., assisted, or aided and abetted the corporation to embezzle, misapply, and convert to its’ own use approximately $201,132.11 in North Carolina Sales Tax during the period November 1, 2014 through November 20, 2017. During this period of time, Bhaskar was the responsible person of Smart Business Connections, Inc., which was under a duty to collect, hold in trust, and remit North Carolina Sales Tax to the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
Additional arrest warrants allege that Bhaskar, assisted, or aided and abetted the corporation to fail to file a North Carolina Corporation Income Tax Return for the tax years 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, and was required to file the corporation tax returns, but willfully failed to file the returns with the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
Bhaskar appeared before a Wake County magistrate and was placed under a $10,000.00 secured bond. A first appearance was scheduled for August 25, 2020 in Wake County District Court in Raleigh.
The charges against Bhaskar resulted from an investigation by special agents with the Department’s Criminal Investigation Division in Raleigh.