Robert Porzio, owner of Bert”™s Tree Service Inc. in Westport, has pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion.
According to a press statement from the U.S. Attorney”™s Office for the District of Connecticut, deposited numerous customers”™ checks into personal bank accounts, transferred a significant portion of the funds into a personal investment account and hid the receipts of these payments from his company”™s bookkeeper. The payments were not reported on his individual federal tax returns as additional salary and were also excluded from the company”™s tax returns as additional receipts.
Porzio maintained this chicanery from the 2012 through 2016 tax years, resulting in a failure to report more than $900,000 in additional income. The underreporting of Porzio”™s income tax liability and the company”™s payroll tax obligations resulted in a loss to the IRS of $331,388.
Porzio faces a maximum prison sentence of five years. He has been released on a $50,000 bond and is scheduled sentencing on March 10, 2022.
