Hartsdale dry cleaning tax scofflaw held in contempt of court

For 15 years, Jiffy Cleaners in Hartsdale and owner Wilton Calderon have dodged paying employee payroll taxes.

In response to “Calderon”™s continued contumacy” ”“ a fancy way of saying he is willfully and stubbornly resistant to authority ”“ a federal judge in White Plains has held him in contempt of court.

Calderon had owned and operated Jiffy Cleaners of Hartsdale in a Central Avenue shopping center since at least 2001. From 2005 to 2015, the dry cleaning business paid about half of its quarterly employee payroll taxes, according to the IRS.

In 2016, the U.S. Attorney”™s Office filed a civil action to compel Jiffy and Calderon to pay taxes. Calderon did not respond to the complaint.

The Internal Revenue Service repeatedly tried to bring Jiffy Cleaners into compliance, revenue officer Luann Bondanza stated in a court filing, by discussing the obligation with Calderon and his accountant, issuing intents to levy taxes, filing federal tax liens, trying to work out an installment plan, and assessing Calderon personally.

But even as negotiations continued, a federal prosecutor wrote to U.S. District Judge Vincent Briccetti, Calderon continued to not pay taxes.

The government demanded a default judgment, and in 2017 Briccetti ordered Calderon and Jiffy to pay the government $110,853, file quarterly returns, and report monthly to the IRS verifying that taxes had been paid. He was ordered not to transfer any money or property from Jiffy to any other person or entity. He would have to notify the IRS if he formed a new business or worked in a managerial position for any other business, for five years.

But Calderon, the government contends, still did not pay some of the quarterly taxes, file tax returns or report every month to the IRS.

Moreover, he allegedly transferred Jiffy”™s assets to another business and did not notify the government of his managerial role in the new business.

His wife, Violet Calderon, a registered nurse, incorporated Jiffy Station Cleaners Inc. in January 2019. She opened a new bank account and listed Calderon as the secretary and an authorized signatory.

Jiffy Cleaners closed its Central Avenue store Jan. 31, 2019, and Jiffy Station leased a space a mile away next to the Hartsdale Metro-North train station.

Last summer, IRS revenue officer Celeste Green discovered that Jiffy Cleaners was out of business. She found Calderon working behind the counter at Jiffy Station, where he allegedly said he merely helps out.

Green returned to Jiffy Station in September. This time, Calderon allegedly stated that he was an officer of the company, some of the equipment had come from Jiffy Cleaners and his wife had opened the new business to “help him out.”

The government accused Calderon and Jiffy Cleaners of transferring assets to the new business to evade IRS enforcement of Briccetti”™s orders.

Calderon”™s attorney, Ronald A. Markowitz of Armonk, responded in a court filing that Violet Calderon is the sole officer and owner of Jiffy Station. Except for working there, Wilton Calderon, 76, has no financial interest in the business.

The only items that came from Jiffy Cleaners are a 45-year-old sewing machine, counter, racks and mirror that “have no sale value.”

Jiffy Cleaners, he stated, began experiencing financial problems in 2016 due to bad weather and construction that blocked access to the shopping center. In 2018, the landlord began eviction proceedings for non-payment of rent, and last year Jiffy Cleaners was evicted and ordered to pay the landlord $81,123.

The business, Markowitz stated, was insolvent. It had assets worth about $13,000 but owed $200,000 to the IRS and the landlord.

The fact that an IRS revenue officer easily found Calderon and Jiffy Station demonstrates that there was no attempt to evade the IRS or shirk obligations, he argued.

Briccetti found the government”™s positions more persuasive. The original judgment was clear and unambiguous, he ruled, and Calderon and Jiffy Cleaners do not deny their failure to make several quarterly tax payments or file quarterly returns or deliver monthly reports to the IRS.

The IRS sufficiently demonstrated that Calderon assumed a managerial position at Jiffy Station, and Briccetti found other defense arguments as frivolous.

He ruled that Calderon and Jiffy Cleaners were in contempt of the original judgment.

He banned Calderon from operating Jiffy Station, and from holding any position with any business where he would be responsible for collecting and paying taxes, for five years. But if he satisfies his tax and reporting obligations, the sanctions can be lifted.