A North Tonawanda businessman who failed to pay state and federal taxes on millions of dollars in personal and business income has pleaded guilty to tax evasion, U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced.
George Ward, 57, faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he returns for sentencing March 28 before U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra Jr.
Prosecutors said that Ward failed to file personal income tax returns between 2015 and 2020, which included "substantial" revenues from his fire protection and inspection business in Amherst. According to prosecutors, he also did not pay income, Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld from his employees' pay.
Tax loss to the Internal Revenue Service totaled $953,793, prosecutors said. Ward also did not pay $165,645 in New York State taxes.
Prosecutors said that Ward misrepresented the status of his tax filings and his business to an IRS revenue officer. They noted that he also used a check cashing service to divert more than $2 million in checks from his business customers into a bank account held in his wife's name instead of depositing them in his business account.