The owner of Zywiec Landscape and Garden Center in Cottage Grove has admitted to a tax crime and will be put on probation as part of a plea deal he struck with prosecutors.
William Joseph Zywiec, 62, of Woodbury, was charged with 13 felonies last year in Washington County District Court: eight counts of filing false or fraudulent sales tax returns, four counts of failing to file sales tax returns and one count of failing to pay sales tax.
Zywiec, who also owns and operates the Haunting Experience at the garden center, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of failing to file a sales tax return in April 2022. He agreed to pay the state $68,000 in restitution, according to a plea petition. In turn, the prosecution agreed to dismiss the other charges.
The plea deal includes a stay of imposition, meaning the conviction will become a misdemeanor as long as he follows conditions of supervised probation, which could be up to three years. He’s scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 13.
For multiple periods from March 2019 through March 2022, Zywiec either filed sales tax returns he knew were false or failed to file sales tax returns altogether, the criminal complaint alleged.
Investigators examined point-of-sale records for both businesses and allegedly found multiple instances where sales tax was either not collected on taxable transactions or was underreported, the complaint said. Zywiec allegedly owed over $215,000 in taxes, penalties and interest, according to the Minnesota Department of Revenue.
Zywiec did sales tax reporting and payments for both businesses. He was told during an audit from 2009 to 2012 he had been underreporting sales taxes collected from the business and failing to remit the sales tax to the state. At the time, he was shown “how to correctly report and remit sales tax,” the complaint said.
Zywiec’s attorney, Christopher Perske, said Monday in an emailed statement to the Pioneer Press that his client is glad to have reached an agreement with the attorney’s office and revenue department and “appreciated the State’s professionalism and thoughtful review of all the facts as they came to light. Mr. Zywiec, like the readers of this article, lives within the current criminal justice and taxation system, and decisions like today’s must be made within that system.”
Perske added that the garden center has operated for four decades and that Zywiec “looks forward to many more years providing great products to a great community.”