Sales Tax fraud

What is the name of your state? florida
i was employed by a local restaurant as a bookkeeper. part of my job was to file the restaurant's sales tax. the owner of the restaurant instructed me on how to figure his tax. i knew then that what he was asking me to do was illegal. i had recently seperated from my husband and needed the $200.00 a week that he paid me. after some time had passed (1 year), i set myself up as a sub-contractor and started doing bookkeeping for other establishments. i continued to defraud the state's sales tax program under direct order from the owner of the restaurant. i am now in a position financially where i do not have to work for him any longer and have resigned my position. i have two weeks left to complete my notice time. i am contacting all legal entities, as well as their vendors, that i will no longer be responsible for that restaurant. my obvious question is, how much trouble am i in? how can i protect myself? the restaurant is very successful and sales tax fraud is one of only a number of issues in which this restaurant crosses the legal line.

You should not have signed any return you knew was fraudulent, no matter how much you needed the money. Soing so could open you up to charges of conspiracy if a particularly aggressive auditor gets hold of the case. However, you are not a corporate officer or owner & have no personal liability for the sales taxes. I hope you have documentation that he ordered you to change the returns. Copies of the properly prepared returns would be good to show that you tried to comply with the law & he willfully broke it.

Thanks. I will sleep alittle better tonight.