Watertown Man And Restaurant Owner Sentenced For Tax Fraud

WATERTOWN, MA — A Watertown man and former owner of restaurants in Boston and Chelsea was sentenced on Thursday in federal court in Boston for tax fraud convictions.

Burhan Ud Din, 50, of Watertown, was sentenced to three years of probation, 500 hours of community service and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $140,372 in back taxes. In August 2019, Din was convicted by a federal jury of six counts of willful failure to collect and pay over tax.

According to the Department of Justice, from 2009 to 2013, Din defrauded the government and avoided paying payroll taxes owed by fried chicken restaurants located in Chelsea, downtown Boston and Jamaica Plain. Federal law requires employers to withhold payroll taxes and pay the IRS. To avoid paying taxes, repeatedly, Din falsely reported to the IRS the number of employees and wages paid. Din provided the tax preparer for the stores with false information about the restaurants’ payroll, causing the tax preparer to file false tax returns.