Prairie Village resident Charity Ohlund and her family made plans to eat at Salty Iguana at Prairie Village’s Corinth Square on Wednesday night.
To Ohlund’s surprise, she and her family were met with a large, red “Seized” sign on the front door of the local Mexican restaurant.
“My husband and his whole family are in the restaurant business, so we kind of looked at each other open-mouthed, ” Ohlund said. “That’s a very last resort, so they must have been really really really behind.”
Earlier that same day, state officials seized the restaurant and other assets — including bank accounts, on-site cash, business inventory and more — due to more than $100,000 in unpaid taxes, according to a Kansas Department of Revenue press release.
This comes after the state seized The Social Bar and Grill in Shawnee for more than $50,000 in unpaid taxes at the end of January. (The Social reopened a week after being shut down by the state.)
Aubrey Challquist, taxation communications manager for the department of revenue, told the Post that there have been no recent changes in the department’s procedure or stepped-up enforcement. The two Johnson County restaurants being seized around the same time are just a coincidence, she said.
Salty Iguana officials could not be reached for comment for this story.
Both remaining Kansas restaurants are closed
The state also seized the Salty Iguana location in Lawrence.
Salty Iguana failed to pay $102,160 worth of sales and liquor drink taxes in 2024, according to a separate department of revenue press release.
The department of revenue says there are 16 cases against the Prairie Village restaurant for failure to pay taxes in Johnson and Shawnee counties.
The Lawrence location, seized the same day as the Prairie Village location, failed to pay $103,204 in sales and liquor drink taxes to Douglas and Shawnee counties.
There are 14 separate cases against the Lawrence restaurant, according to the department of revenue press release about the Lawrence location.
The state plans to auction seized assets
- After seizing Salty Iguana’s assets, the state plans to host a public auction and use those proceeds to pay the delinquent taxes, according to a press release.
- The department of revenue’s process calls for working with delinquent taxpayers to enter repayment agreements before seizing assets. (The Social, for instance, reopened roughly a week after state agents seized its assets, with the bar’s owner citing one missed payment as the reason for the seizure.)
- “It is only after these efforts and multiple failed collection attempts that the Department is forced to execute a tax warrant, utilizing such actions as bank levies, till taps, and ultimately asset seizure to ensure compliance with the law,” both press releases read.
This is the last Salty Iguana in Johnson County
- In September 2024, the Mexican restaurant closed its Olathe location after 15 years in business.
- In a social media post at the time, the restaurant said that it intended to focus on its other three Salty Iguana locations — Prairie Village, Lawrence and Independence, Mo.
Keep reading local business news: Fabric and craft store Joann Fabrics closing all stores — including 2 in JoCo
