Cleaning Service Owner Charged with Employment Tax Scheme and Other Crimes
A federal grand jury in Las Vegas returned an indictment earlier this week charging a former Nevada business owner for not paying employment taxes, not filing personal tax returns and obstructing justice.
According to the indictment, Deborah Meadows, formerly of Las Vegas, owned and operated A to Z Employment Services LLC, which provided carpet, upholstery and roadside cleaning services in Nevada. Meadows allegedly was responsible for all financial matters related to the company, including for filing the company’s quarterly employment tax returns and withholding Social Security, Medicare and income taxes from her employees’ wages and paying those funds over to the IRS, as well paying the Social Security and Medicare taxes the company owed.
From at least the fourth quarter of 2018 through the fourth quarter of 2020, Meadows allegedly withheld taxes from her employees’ wages, but did not pay over all those taxes to the IRS. In addition, from 2018 through 2021 Meadows also allegedly did not file his own personal tax returns as required by law.
After the grand jury began its investigation, Meadows allegedly responded to a grand jury subpoena by providing altered bank records and inaccurate tax records. The altered bank records allegedly showed that AZ-TEC Restoration LLC, another company Meadows owned and operated, had made tax payments to the IRS, when in fact the company had not done so. She also provided inaccurate individual and employment tax returns that allegedly showed taxes paid to the IRS, when in fact Meadows knew at the time that this did not happen.
If convicted, Meadows face a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each employment tax charge, a maximum penalty of one year in prison for each failure to file an individual tax charge and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each obstruction charge. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.
IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.
Trial Attorney Regina Jeon and Assistant Chief Eric Powers of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
Source: Justice.gov
