SALT LAKE CITY – David Brian Bybee, age 56, of Kaysville, Utah, a Utah businessman and CPA, pleaded guilty Wednesday afternoon to one count of attempt to evade and defeat payment of taxes, U.S. Attorney John W. Huber announced today.
According to the plea agreement, Bybee managed and controlled several companies from his home in Kaysville or at other business addresses in Davis County. Bybee hired and managed employees for the Bybee companies. His duties included generating revenue, keeping books and records, paying expenses, making employee payroll, withholding and paying over taxes from employee payroll, and filing all required business returns. The Bybee companies offered various services, including membership in various business professional associations and groups, along with bookkeeping, accounting, and tax management training and services.
As a part of the plea agreement executed Wednesday, Bybee admitted he formed the National Association of Certified Bookkeepers, LLC (NACPB) on or about July 21, 2006, with himself and D.B. as its only members. From at least Jan. 7, 2007, to Aug. 7, 2008, NACPB held a business account at Wells Fargo Bank. Bybee and D.B. were the only authorized signers on the Wells Fargo account. Bybee also formed the National Bookkeepers Association, LLC (NBA) about Jan. 9, 2008, listing his sons, B.B. and L.B., as NBA’s only members. From Jan. 16, 2008, to at least March 1, 2016, NBA held a business account at America First Credit Union. B.B. and L.B. were the only authorized signers on the account. Revenues generated by the two associations were received primarily through credit card sales deposited into the Wells Fargo and America First Credit Union accounts.
Bybee further admitted, as a part of the plea agreement, that he and D.B. filed a Form 1040 joint personal return with the IRS for tax years 2000 through 2002 and 2005 through 2009, and for which the IRS assessed Bybee $153,569.41 as of March 14, 2011. Bybee admitted he had willfully failed to pay those taxes due and owing the United States.
During the period from 2008 to 2011, substantial revenues from credit card sales were deposited into the America First Credit Union account, Bybee admitted as a part of the plea agreement. Despite not being an authorized signer on the account, Bybee controlled significant electronic funds transfers out of the account for, among other things, various personal expenditures. The expenditures included a mortgage, cars, jet skis, and a boat. He also admitted that on many occasions, he also issued checks from the America First Credit Union Account, signing B.B.’s signature on the checks. In taking or causing these acts, Bybee acknowledged he acted willfully, intending to evade and defeat payment of tax due and owing the United States.
District Judge Dee Benson also accepted and imposed a stipulated sentence of 12 months and one day during Wednesday’s hearing. Bybee also agreed to pay $469,381.19 in restitution. This figure includes individual income tax obligations totaling $370,661.96 and $98,719.23 in payroll tax obligations. The $98,719.23 stems from Bybee’s failure, as a person with corporate responsibilities, to deduct and collect payroll taxes, deposit payroll taxes with the IRS, and truthfully account for payroll taxes to the IRS for several companies he controlled. Bybee will be on supervised release for 36 months when he finishes his prison sentence. He was ordered to report to the Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his sentence at noon on March 22, 2017.
The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Salt Lake City and investigated by special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation.