Failed To Report Over $900,000 of Income
SAN FRANCISCO - Scott Charles McCauley pleaded guilty in federal court in San Francisco today, to tax evasion, announced United States Attorney Melinda Haag and Acting IRS Criminal Investigation in Charge Thomas McMahon.
In pleading guilty, McCauley admitted that he was General Partner and 80% owner of McCauley & Father Construction. During 2007 and 2008, McCauley oversaw all the aspects of McCauley & Father Construction, from the day-to-day field operations to financial matters, including the creation of invoices and cashing of checks.
McCauley admitted he filed false 2007 and 2008 federal income tax returns on which he did not report income that he received and wrongfully took from McCauley & Father Construction. During these years, McCauley provided the business bank account statements to a tax return preparer. The tax return preparer relied on the bank statements to prepare the federal income tax returns for the business and for McCauley. Each time McCauley deposited checks into the business bank account, he also withdrew cash. McCauley knew that the bank statements he provided to the tax preparer only showed the net deposit, that is, the sum of the deposited checks less the simultaneous cash withdrawals. In 2007 and 2008, McCauley deposited $516,592 and $422,142, respectively, in business receipts into his personal bank account, which resulted in additional taxes due in the amount of $117,994 and $31,519, respectively.
McCauley’s personal income tax returns and McCauley Construction’s partnership tax returns for 2007 through 2009 were the subject of a routine civil audit in 2010. During the audit, McCauley falsely told a revenue agent that he deposited all the business receipts into the business bank account and provided the revenue agent with an incomplete set of the company’s invoices and business receipts.
McCauley, 50, of Novato, was charged on Dec. 12, 2014, with two counts of tax evasion, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201. McCauley made his first appearance today, before the Honorable Laurel Beeler, United States Magistrate Court Judge, in San Francisco, and pleaded guilty to both counts in the Information before the Honorable Richard Seeborg, United States District Court Judge.
McCauley is scheduled to be sentenced on April 14, 2015 at 2:30 p.m. before Judge Seeborg. The maximum statutory penalty for each count, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201, is five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater, and up to three years of supervised release. However, any sentence will be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
Colin Sampson is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the IRS - Criminal Investigation.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
