Chicago-area business owner sentenced for underreporting $1.47M in taxes

CHICAGO – A suburban Chicago businessman has been sentenced to a year in prison for underreporting more than a million dollars in income on his tax returns.

Jeremiah Johnson, 46, of Frankfort, owned and operated three businesses: New Beginnings Academy, New Beginnings Child Development, and Epic Transportation. From 2015 to 2020, Johnson received over $1.47 million from the businesses but failed to report the income on his individual tax returns.

Instead, he reported only lesser W2 wages and some rental income. Johnson also never filed corporate tax returns or paid the necessary federal withholdings for income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes during that period.

Earlier this year, Johnson pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return. On Wednesday, he was sentenced to a year and a day in prison, fined $10,000, and ordered to pay $123,391 in restitution to the IRS.