Newington Couple Pleads Guilty To Tax Evasion: Feds

NEWINGTON/HARTFORD, CT — A Newington couple has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Hartford to federal tax evasion charges.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, and Harry T. Chavis, Jr., special agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in New England, said Tuesday that Anthony Niro, 60, and Nanette Niro, 59, of Newington, have pleaded guilty to offenses stemming from a tax evasion scheme.

Officials said Anthony Niro pleaded last week while Nanette Niro pleaded Tuesday.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Anthony Niro was a co-owner of A. Niro Landscape Contractors, Inc. (ANLC), a business that provides landscaping and snowplowing services for large commercial properties and personal residences.

Nanette Niro, who is married to Anthony Niro, was the bookkeeper for ANLC and maintained ANLC’s financial records.

From 2006-10, Anthony Niro, his business partner, and Nanette Niro conspired to evade both corporate and individual income tax by causing a large portion of ANLC’s receipts to be deposited into two non-interest-bearing checking accounts.

Officials said the money was then transferred out of the accounts to themselves for their benefit, federal officials said.

Anthony Niro, his business partner, and Nanette Niro failed to provide information about these non-interest-bearing accounts to the tax return preparer who prepared ANLC’s federal income tax returns, according to federal officials.

Through this scheme, nearly $14 million in ANLC’s gross receipts were not reported to the IRS for the 2006 through 2010 tax years, resulting in a tax loss of $2,931,011, authorities said.

Anthony Niro and his ANLC business partner also owned numerous residential and commercial properties through several entities, officials said.

They earned rental income through some of the properties, and some of that income was also not reported to the IRS, authorities said.

On Jan. 4, Anthony Niro pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion. Nanette Niro pleaded guilty to the same charge Tuesday.

At sentencing, they each face a maximum term of imprisonment of five years.

Anthony and Nanette Niro have paid the restitution of $1,472,735. They are still required to pay substantial financial penalties and interest.