Tennessee Home Business Owner Convicted of Filing False Tax Returns
A federal jury convicted a Tennessee man on Nov. 21 of filing false tax returns that omitted income he earned from his business.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, David Haley, 65, of Clarksville, owned Haley & Associates Mechanical Contractors, a heating and plumbing business. From 2014 through 2017, Haley & Associates was hired as the subcontractor on commercial projects in middle Tennessee and was paid more than $1,000,000 for each year. The contractors that hired Haley & Associates generally paid via check and reported the payments to the IRS on Forms 1099-MISC as non-employee compensation. Even though Haley personally received a portion of the company’s earnings as business income and nonemployee compensation, he reported earning no income on his 2014-2017 tax returns. By not reporting income on his tax returns for tax years 2015 through 2017, Haley caused the IRS a loss of approximately $186,290.
Haley was convicted of three counts of filing false tax returns for tax years 2015, 2016, and 2017. The jury acquitted Haley of one count of filing a false tax return relating to his 2014 tax filing.
Haley will be sentenced at a later date. He faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each of three counts of filing false tax returns. 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 and U.S. Attorney Mark H. Wildasin for the Middle District of Tennessee made the announcement.
IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn W. Booth and Trial Attorney Mitchell T. Galloway of the Justice Department’s Tax Division are prosecuting the case.