The owner of two Massachusetts-based companies, Bowmar Steel Industries Inc. and Teleconstructors Inc., pleaded guilty on Friday to willfully failing to collect, account for, and pay over payroll taxes owed to the IRS.

According to court documents, Kenneth Marston, of Kingston, Massachusetts, was the owner and operator of Bowmar Steel Industries, a steel fabrication business, and Teleconstructors, a company that provided installation services for cellular phone towers.

Marston was responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes from his employees’ paychecks and remitting those funds to the IRS.

From approximately March 2015 through December 2018, however, Marston failed to ensure that payroll taxes were withheld or paid to the IRS for about $3.8 million in wages. His actions caused a tax loss to the IRS estimated between $550,000 and $1.5 million.

Marston is scheduled to be sentenced on January 3, 2025, and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. In addition to prison time, he also faces supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.

The final sentence will be determined by a federal district court judge after considering the U.S. sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

The case is being investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation.

The announcement was made by Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy for the District of Massachusetts.

This article, “Owner of Massachusetts Cellular Phone Tower Installation Business Pleads Guilty to Employment Tax Crimes” was first published on Small Business Trends