A Howell business owner has been sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison for tax evasion and failure to pay the IRS more than $540,000 in employment taxes, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced on May 6.
Wilson Salas-Molina, 41, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan to an information charging him with one count of payroll tax evasion and one count of failure to collect, account for, and pay over payroll taxes. Sheridan imposed the sentence on May 6 in Trenton federal court, according to a press release.
According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court: Salas-Molina was the owner and operator of US Contractor Inc. (aka Wilson Contractors Inc., aka WC Contractor Inc.), a roofing business in Monmouth County.
From 2012-18, Salas-Molina was required to withhold and pay over to the IRS the employment taxes for US Contractor employees. Salas-Molina cashed checks he received from roofing clients at a check cashing service and paid his 14 employees in cash to conceal his payment of wages and his failure to report, account for, and pay over employment taxes to the IRS.
The scheme resulted in a failure to withhold and pay over $540,000 in employment taxes to the IRS.
In addition to the prison term, Sheridan sentenced Salas-Molina to three years of supervised release and ordered Salas-Molina to pay $541,181 in restitution to the IRS.
