Greenville roofing company owner pleads guilty to tax evasion
John Frederick Snyder, 71, of Greenville, Michigan, owner of Snyder’s Roofing, pled guilty on June 20, 2018, to a felony information charging him with tax evasion for the 2011 tax year.
As part of his plea agreement, Snyder further admitted to willfully evading the assessment of income taxes for 2009 to 2014 by underreporting his income by over $6 million. He has agreed to pay restitution of $414,160, representing his tax loss, plus fraud penalties and interest. At a sentencing hearing yet to be set by the court, Snyder will face up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000.
According to his plea agreement and court records, Snyder consistently failed to timely file tax returns and when he did file he underreported the amount of his business income. He purposely deposited less than all of his business income into his business bank account without informing his accountant. Instead, he took checks from his customers and signed them over to his suppliers (making them third-party checks) to pay for the materials and services used in his business.
Because of this practice, his business account never showed his actual business income. Snyder also carried out his tax evasion scheme by depositing checks made payable directly to him for the work of his roofing business into his personal bank accounts, taking back cash at the same time, or negotiating the entire amount of the checks for cash. Snyder used some of this unreported cash to pay his employees.
“Snyder willfully evaded his civic and legal obligation to pay his taxes,” said U.S. Attorney Birge. “The IRS figured out his scheme and he will now pay those taxes after all, along with fraud penalties and interest, while also facing up to five years in prison.”
“This is a classic example of greed,” said Manny Muriel, IRS-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Field Office. “Snyder blatantly disregarded the law to line his own pockets. He painstakingly took steps to avoid paying his fair share of taxes. IRS-Criminal Investigation will continue to seek out and find those who choose to disregard the tax laws.”
The Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division, Grand Rapids, conducted the investigation, and Assistant United States Attorney Ronald M. Stella is prosecuting the case.
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