Earlier this week, it was announced that a Long Island business owner had pleaded guilty to failing to pay over employment taxes to the IRS. The construction company was owned by Edward Hansen of Northport, New York. He pleaded guilty to one count of willfully failing to collect, truthfully account for, and pay over payroll taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.
Court documents show that Hansen owned and operated steel erection businesses in Suffolk County. The Internal Revenue Service assessed more than $480,000 in penalties against Hansen from 2008 to 2011. The IRS’s last assessment took place in May of 2011.
After that assessment, Hansen changed the name of his business to BR-Teck Enterprises. He also nominally transferred ownership to another individual. Nevertheless, Hansen continued to operate the business and continued to fail to pay employment taxes. In total, Hansen failed to pay more than $950,000 in payroll taxes from January 2012 through June 2017.
At the time of sentencing, Hansen will face a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Additional details can be found here.