Newington Landscaper Fined $1.75M For Tax Evasion: Feds

U.S. Attorney's Office

NEWINGTON, CT — A landscape contractor from Newington who was convicted of tax evasion in January has been fined $1.75 million by the federal government.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, sait Tuesday that Anthony Niro, 61, of Newington, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Hartford to three years of probation and ordered to pay a fine of $1.75 million for tax evasion.

The judge, Avery said, noted Niro’s medical condition and family circumstances when imposing the sentence.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Niro was a co-owner of A. Niro Landscape Contractors, Inc. (ANLC), a landscaping and snowplowing business serving 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.

For the 2006-10 tax years, 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 and transferring money out of the accounts to themselves for their benefit, Avery 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, she said.

In their 2006-09 personal tax returns, the Niros failed to reflect accurately monies received from ANLC and other sources. A 2010 tax return was not filed.

For the 2006-10 tax years, Anthony and Nanette Niro failed to report to the IRS more than $7.8 million in income, resulting in a tax loss to the IRS of $1,451,725, federal officials said.

As an example, on their 2009 federal individual tax return, Anthony and Nanette Niro reported a taxable income of $131,895 when their correct taxable income for that year was $1,891,955.

Anthony Niro has paid restitution of $1,472,735 to the IRS and has forfeited an additional $127,300.

He is still required to pay substantial interest and penalties to the IRS, according to Avery.

On Jan. 4, Anthony Niro pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion. Nanette Niro pleaded guilty to the same charge on Jan. 9, and awaits sentencing.

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