East Lyme Dentist Sentenced In Tax Evasion Case: Prosecutors

EAST LYME, CT — An East Lyme dentist was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison for tax evasion, according to a statement from Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut. Boulos Hanna, aka "Paul Hanna," 66, will also serve three years of supervised release and pay a $25,000 fine.

Hanna owns Paul Hanna DMD PC, a dental practice in New London. He owns the building where his dental practice is located and the practice pays rent to Hanna individually.

In the 2010 through 2012 tax years, Hanna filed tax forms for himself and his wife but did not pay the tax due. From 2012 through 2017, Hanna was subject to IRS collections enforcement for the 2010 through 2012 tax years, including liens placed on property and seized payments taken through levies, according to prosecutors.

From 2013 through 2020, Hanna earned about $1.6 million from his work as a dentist and from rental income. However, he failed to file tax returns for any of those years, resulting in a loss to the IRS of $244,541, according to prosecutors.

Hanna also attempted to evade taxes by paying himself “management fees” instead of a reasonable wage, operating in cash by self-endorsing business checks to himself and cashing these checks to keep money out of his personal bank accounts. He would also pay personal expenses directly from his business accounts without reflecting those payments as income.

Hanna is required to pay $244,541 in restitution.

Hanna pleaded guilty July 17 and is required to report to prison on May 6.