Analia Mountzoures, 49, of East Lyme, operated Mountzoures Cleaning. She often paid her employees in cash and did not report their wages to the government.
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — An East Lyme business owner was sentenced in Bridgeport federal court on Thursday to three years of probation after committing a tax offense.
According to a report Friday from the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, 49-year-old Analia Mountzoures pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting a false tax return on April 23.
RELATED: Connecticut business owner admits to federal tax offense, will pay $380,167 in restitution
A judge in Bridgeport has ordered her to pay $380,167 back to the Internal Revenue Service, whose Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.
Court documents and statements show that Mountzoures ran Mountzoures Cleaning, a business with around 10 employees that operated across Southeastern Connecticut.
The business provided cleaning services to more than 200 commercial and residential clients.
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Prosecutors revealed in court that between the 2018 and 2023 tax years, Mountzoures often paid her employees in cash and did not report their wages to the federal or state government.
Furthermore, she did not file required IRS forms related to her employees, failed to issue W-2 forms, did not withhold employee taxes as required and did not pay federal employment taxes and withholding.
RELATED: Connecticut roofing contractor sentenced for multi-million-dollar tax evasion scheme
Mountzoures also gave her tax return preparer false information, resulting in personal tax returns that underreported her gross receipts, income and taxes due and owing by a large margin.
For example, prosecutors say Mountzoures’ 2023 tax return reported gross receipts of $12,095 and total taxes before credits as $1,450.
Really, her gross receipts were approximately $628,072 and the tax due was around $96,650.
Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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