Bloomfield Township Man, Business Owner Headed to Prison For Tax Evasion

The founder and owner of Merchant Processing, a Troy business that implements credit card processing systems, was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison Tuesday for failing to pay both personal and business taxes.

John Walter Kaber, of Bloomfield Township, was sentenced per a plea agreement on multiple counts of tax evasion, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. Court documents show Kaber did not file timely tax returns for 1991 and 2005. Tax forms for 1992-1996 and 2000-2004 were filed and reflected taxes owed, but were never paid.

The total in both income and employment taxes owed is $868,319.70, the news release stated.

Kaber used several different means so conceal this income and assets from the government, including using his wife's name to purchase and refinance purchases of land, a boat and a vehicle. He also cashed checks and deposited business receipts into his wife's chekcing account to avoid tax payment after the government issued a tax levy, the IRS claimed in court documents.

The court also ordered Kaber to pay the full amount in restitution and two years of supervised release.

His attorney was not immediately available for comment.