In a span of less than a week, Cindy?s Family Cafe in Marion, owned by Cynthia K. Taylor, was closed March 9 for failing to pay state taxes, but reopened March 13 after an agreement was reached with the state.
?The taxpayer and the Revenue Department were able to reach an acceptable payment arrangement Friday,? said Jeannine Koranda with the public information office.
With the agreement, business assets were released and the business was reopened.
Koranda said tax enforcement agents and Marion police officers seized the business assets March 9 when the restaurant failed to pay $12,859 in state sales tax.
?Officers seized all known bank accounts, on-site cash, business inventory and personal property assets belonging to Taylor,? Koranda said.
Without the agreement, the restaurant at 211 E. Main St. would have been sealed closed, and the assets would have been sold at public auction to pay the taxes owed, Koranda said.
A warrant execution occurs when all other collection attempts have been exhausted, she added.
Some collection attempts include multiple letters, telephone calls, letters of impending legal action and tax liens filed with the local district court to secure the debt.
Previous bank levies and on-site till taps are also executed to bring the taxpayer into compliance have been exhausted.
?Only after several unsuccessful attempts does the department take the action of seizing assets, which in this instance resulted in the business being closed,? she added.
Koranda said the department?s standard practice is to encourage delinquent taxpayers to voluntarily enter into a repayment agreement.
Details of Friday?s repayment arrangement were unavailable, but Koranda said the taxes owed at the time of the seizure were from July 2013 through August 2014 and taxes for October 2014 for a total of $12,859.
