FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 02, 2001

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

Becky Smalley
(302)577-8667
rsmalley@state.de.us

JULIETTE R. HUTCHINSON PLEADS GUILTY

Wilmington - William M. Remington, Director of Revenue, announced today that Juliette R. Hutchinson pled guilty in Superior Court to a misdemeanor tax offense.

Hutchinson who is the owner of Hutchinson & Associates, a Hockessin, Del. accounting and tax preparation business, pled guilty to one count of failure to file returns, supply information or pay tax for 1997, 1998 and 1999, an offense that is punishable by up to a maximum 1 year imprisonment and up to $2,300 in fines.

By not filing her returns, Hutchinson failed to report over $200,000 of Delaware adjusted gross income for the years in question.

Judge Joseph R. Slights, III, sentenced Hutchinson to six months in jail suspended for one year's probation and ordered her to pay, as restitution, $7,392 of tax to the Delaware Division of Revenue for the years in question, plus a $1,000 fine. Hutchinson paid the $7,392 prior to sentencing.

The charges against Hutchinson, a Hockessin resident, stem from an investigation by the Delaware Division of Revenue into her activities as owner of Hutchinson & Associates which resulted in a Grand Jury indictment in April.

Although, as part of her client services, she prepared Delaware tax returns for clients, she failed to prepare and file her own Delaware returns.

Remington said, "The charges against Ms. Hutchinson are for intentionally failing to file the same Delaware tax returns and to report her own income and tax liability as she prepared for clients of Hutchinson & Associates. The Division of Revenue will not take legal action against taxpayers who self-disclose their delinquent tax filings by coming forward and working with our representatives to resolve such matters. But where taxpayers are unwilling to self-disclose, service to law-abiding citizens requires that the Division of Revenue continue to deal aggressively with those who fail to file or who underreport their taxes."