Kearney Nail Salon Owner Sentenced for Filing False Tax Returns

Acting United States Attorney Jan Sharp announced that Thomas W. Hird, 67, of Kearney, Nebraska, was sentenced today in Lincoln, Nebraska, by United States District Court Judge John M. Gerrard for filing false tax returns. Hird was sentenced to 2 years in prison and 3 years of supervised release with special conditions. There is no parole in the federal system. Hird was ordered to pay $83,063 in restitution.

Hird owned and operated a nail salon business, Nails Unlimited, in Kearney, since 2009. From around February of 2009, Hird would skim the cash and check payments of the business by cashing a majority of all customer checks received at the business and by conducting currency exchanges in which he would exchange small bills for $100 bills. Credit/Debit card transactions at the business would automatically be deposited into the business bank account, however, cash and check payments were rarely deposited into the business account. Hird willfully failed to report the cashed customer checks and currency received as part of his gross income on his yearly tax return. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began investigating Hird’s actions sometime in 2017.

Hird was convicted following a jury trial held in late March of this year. The jury found him guilty of filing false tax returns for the tax years 2014, 2015, and 2016.

“Today, Mr. Hird has been held accountable for intentionally dodging his tax responsibilities when he did not report all income earned through his nail salon business. For several years, he received checks and cash that he did not include on his tax returns that he filed with the IRS,” said Tyler Hatcher, Special Agent in Charge of IRS-Criminal Investigation’s St. Louis Field Office. “IRS-CI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to work together to bring those who under report their tax liabilities to justice.”

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation.