Fairfield Man Failed to Pay Nearly $450K in Taxes: Feds

FAIRFIELD, CT — A Fairfield man pleaded guilty to failing to pay nearly $450,000 in taxes related to his landscaping business over a three-year period, according to authorities.

Donald Biagi Jr., 55, of Fairfield, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty in Hartford federal court Thursday to one count of tax evasion, U.S. States Attorney Deirdre M. Daly and Joel P. Garland, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in New England, announced in a press release.

Biagi, the sole owner of Don Biagi Landscaping, generated business income by providing landscaping and snowplowing services to commercial and residential customers in Fairfield County. He regularly negotiated client checks at banks for cash rather than depositing the checks into his business bank accounts, according to court documents.

Between 2008 and 2010, Biagi cashed approximately 574 client checks, ranging in amounts from $10.52 to $15,604.50, in the total amount of approximately $848,750, according to the press release.

Biagi, who acted as his own bookkeeper, did not disclose to his tax return preparer the client checks he cashed and some of the client checks he deposited into his business account between 2008 and 2010, authorities said.

“As a result, a total of $1,321,305 in business gross receipts were not reported on Biagi’s federal tax returns for 2008, 2009, and 2010, resulting in his substantially under-reporting his taxable income,” Daly wrote in the press release. “Biagi failed to report approximately 62 percent of his business’s gross receipts in 2008, approximately 47 percent of the gross receipts in 2009, and approximately 60 percent of the gross receipts in 2010.”

Biagi faces a maximum prison term of five years and a fine of up to $250,000 when he is sentenced. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.

Biagi has also agreed to repay the U.S. Treasury $445,579 in restitution for the taxes he failed to pay, and additional penalties and interest that have accrued on his unpaid taxes, according to Daly.

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