A prosecutor's office announced Thursday that former NFL star Plaxico Burress has been indicted on charges he failed to pay taxes.

Burress was charged last week with willful failure to pay a state tax and issuing a bad check or electronic funds transfer. He is the first person in the state of New Jersey to be charged under a new law that makes issuing a bad electronic funds transfer a criminal offense.

Each offense could carry up to a five-year prison term if he is convicted.

In a news release from the Mercer County prosecutor's office, authorities said Burress filed his state income tax return for 2013 on Oct. 20, 2014, showing he owed nearly $48,000, the amount that would be due for someone with a taxable income of about $550,000. Prosecutors said he submitted an electronic funds transfer, but it failed.

Officials said the state Division of Taxation notified him of the problem in multiple letters, one of which was sent certified and returned unclaimed, but officials never heard back from him. Authorities also said they notified Burress' tax preparer.

They say he also did not pay up after a criminal complaint was filed in February.

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