O'ahu business owner Nenita Mauricio found herself in legal turmoil as the Hawaiʻi Department of Taxation and the Hawaiʻi Department of the Attorney General charged her with tax violations. According to a DOTAX news release dated March 12, Mauricio was arrested on March 6 for allegedly filing false tax statements through her unlicensed company, Private Home Duty, LLC.
The state claims that between 2018 and 2022, Mauricio brazenly opted to initially avoid taxes, filing fake forms that landed her with five counts of False and Fraudulent Statements. Each false claim is being treated as a class C felony that could potentially land her in prison for up to three years per count, as well as cost her up to $100,000 per count in fines. While one must note that criminal defendants stand innocent until proven guilty, the charges here bear significant potential consequences.
Director of the Department of Taxation, Gary Suganuma, expressed the severity of such allegations with strong words. "DOTAX will expose those who choose to break Hawaiʻi’s tax laws, especially those who operate under the radar," Suganuma stated. The sentiment underscores an ongoing effort to clamp down on unlicensed businesses, which, according to local authorities, skirt financial responsibilities and can pose dangers to the community. In their eyes, unlicensed operations like Mauricio's deprive the public stash of what is rightfully due and could risk public safety, as per the DOTAX news release.
