Lizbel Sanchez, a co-owner of the Danbury Food Corp. (“DFC”) which operates a C-Town grocery store in Danbury, has pleaded guilty to a federal tax offense.
According to the charges brought against her, Sanchez, also known as Lizbel Diaz, was responsible for DFC”™s accounting and financial records and for collecting and paying over certain federal taxes from DFC”™s employees.
However, an investigation showed that Sanchez and DFC paid several employees in cash and failed to collect, account for and pay over the federal taxes associated with the cash wages. She also failed to account for and pay over DFC”™s share of Federal Insurance Contribution Act (FICA) taxes and its Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) obligation based on the taxable wages of those employees that DFC paid in cash. As a result, Sanchez was responsible for a tax loss of $408,121.85 to the IRS for the 2016 tax year.
Sanchez pleaded guilty to one count of willful failure to collect or pay over taxes, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years. She is scheduled to be sentenced on July 7 and is released on bond pending sentencing.
Sanchez has paid $408,121.85 in restitution to the IRS and acknowledged similar conduct for DFC in 2017 and 2018, and for other businesses in which Sanchez had an interest in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Additional tax losses will be addressed by the IRS in civil litigation.
