A Smyrna BBQ joint owner bit off more than she could chew with the law after falling into a stew of tax fraud and theft. Scharneitha Britton, who ran Kinfolks BBQ, has been sentenced to probation and a hefty side of restitution after pleading guilty to evading the tax man and pinching pennies from Tennessee.
Following a Special Investigations Section probe of the Tennessee Department of Revenue, Britton was served up with a sentence of six years of probation by Judge Barry Tidwell on Friday, the Department of Revenue reported. She must also pay back $68,205.73 in restitution, cash that should've been in the state's pocket, not hers.
The grill master's legal BBQ began when a Rutherford County Grand Jury indicted her on a sizzling skillet of charges: one Class B felony theft over $60,000, sizzling up an alleged 13 counts of money laundering, and the underreported 36 felony counts of tax evasion. Britton's seasoning of deception involved underreporting taxable sales and a failure to remit sales tax collected from unwitting customers.
Revenue Commissioner David Gerregano minced no words, "Investigations, such as this one, should warn retailers that failing to properly remit all the sales tax monies they collect is a crime,” he seared into the public consciousness. He added, "The taxes collected from customers are property of the state and local governments at all times. Customers have a right to know that the tax they pay will be remitted to the state and used for the public good of all Tennesseans."
The Tennessee Department of Revenue, responsible for the upkeep of state tax laws and the collection of various dues, partnered with District Attorney Jennings Jones’ office to bring Britton to the legal carving table. The department, simmering over $22 billion in state taxes and fees during the fiscal year 2023, encourages citizens to dial up their toll-free hotline (800) FRAUDTX (372-8389) to report any suspicions of revenue law violations. Dedicated to the fiscal health of the state it serves, the department perennially forks up about 87 percent of Tennessee's total revenue.
