It wasn’t a bust-up of a speakeasy or an underground gambling establishment — but a raid’s a raid.
Monday morning, special agents with the Internal Revenue Service’s criminal investigation division, with an assist from the Kinston Department of Public Safety, shut down Tax Kings on 703 N. Queen Street.
They proceeded to conduct their investigation at the office and left the site by late Monday afternoon.
Nancy Hatfield, spokeswoman for the IRS division, wouldn’t comment on the investigation beyond saying, “IRS criminal investigation special agents were there on official business.”
The Better Business Bureau gives Tax Kings an F rating. One complaint on the BBB’s website, dated Feb. 25, accuses company employees of committing larceny with a couple’s tax information. Another complaint, from May 17, 2011, alleges the company didn’t return to a customer the balance of an expected refund.
The N.C. Secretary of State’s office shows that a Tax Kings, LLC became a legal entity on Dec. 30, 2009, with the registered agent being an Ife Imhotep, located at the business’ address. The official record also lists a manager named Ife Grady, with a mailing address in Kinston — Shallcross Way — that doesn’t exist. There is a house on Shallcross Way in Raleigh that matches up to the street number, however.
The document establishing Tax Kings in 2009 listed Imhotep at an address on Greywood Road in Raleigh. There’s not a Greywood Road, but there is a house that corresponds to the street number on Greywood Drive in Raleigh.
The Secretary of State’s office sent a letter to the business on Dec. 12, 2012 warning if it did not receive the 2012 annual report within 60 days, the state would administratively dissolve the corporation.
The Tax Kings website lists locations in Kinston, Greenville, Rocky Mount and Wilson. The site is registered to a Garvey Imhotep at the Shallcross Way address in Raleigh.
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wes.wolfe@kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.