Chelmsford Paving Company Owner Pleads Guilty To Tax Fraud

CHELMSFORD, MA – The owner of a Chelmsford paving company pleaded guilty last week to a payroll tax scheme resulting in more than $300,000 losses in taxes.

Robert W. Joyce, 59, of Carlisle, pleaded guilty on June 19 to one count of willful failure to collect and pay over taxes.

From 2012 through at least 2014, Joyce paid a portion of the wages to employees of his two companies, Allied Paving and Allied Equipment, “under the table,” by paying them from his own personal bank account, rather than through the business accounts. In doing so, Joyce did not collect, account for, or pay the IRS the income withholding and FICA taxes that he, as the employer, was required to.

Joyce also caused Allied Paving and Allied Equipment to file false returns with the IRS which underreported the actual wages he paid his employees, as well as the employment taxes due to the IRS. Joyce caused a loss to the IRS of at least $331,060.

U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel Gorton scheduled sentencing for Oct. 20. And Joyce faces as much as five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.