Philadelphia. – An indictment was unsealed earlier this week charging a Pennsylvania man with evading taxes on income he earned from his restaurant and for not paying all required employment taxes.
According to the indictment, Cihan Calkap owned and operated Mimmo’s Pizza in Philadelphia. For tax years 2015, 2017 and 2018, Calkap evaded income tax by not depositing cash receipts from the restaurant into its bank account, paying himself in cash, and providing his accountant with false and incomplete information about the restaurant’s income and expenses. This, in turn, caused his accountant to prepare and file false corporate and personal income tax returns.
Calkap also operated an “off the books” payroll, paying employees their wages either entirely or partially in cash and not withholding Social Security, Medicare and income taxes from those cash payments or paying those funds to the IRS as required by law.
Calkap was charged with three counts of tax evasion; 10 counts of failing to collect, account for and pay over employment taxes; and two counts of assisting in the preparation of false tax returns. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each tax evasion charge, a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each charge of failing to collect, account for and pay over employment taxes and a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each charge of aiding in the filing of a false tax return. 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 made the announcement.
IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.
Assistant Chief Thomas F. Koelbl and Trial Attorney Colleen McCarthy of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.
