Manahawkin Diner Owner Sentenced To Six Months In Jail For Tax Evasion, Must Make Restitution Of $480,974

The owner of Nick’s Horizon Diner in Manahawkin and Mariner's Cove in Brielle will spend the next six months in prison and another six months confined at home after he pleaded guilty to tax evasion, according a release from the Internal Revenue Service's Newark field office.

Nikolaos Psaros, 55, Palisades Park, must also pay $480,474 in restitution, a $4,000 fine and serve three years of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to one count of personal tax evasion in May,

Psaros owned and operated Nick’s Horizon Diner Corporation (Horizon Diner) and
Mariner’s Cove LLC (Mariner’s Cove). Psaros was the sole owner of Horizon Diner and
ninety-nine percent owner of Mariner’s Cove with the other one percent owned by his
wife.
Psaros failed to deposit all of the revenue generated from Horizon Diner and Mariner's Cove into the business and payroll bank accounts in 2010. Instead, he diverted substantial amounts of revenue into his own personal bank account. He also used gross cash receipts from both restaurants to fund a cash payroll and other expenses.

Psaros hired an accountant to prepare his 2010 joint federal income tax return. But Psaros
only reported the money he deposited into the business and payroll accounts as income to the accountant,

Psaros did not tell the accountant about the money he diverted into his own personal account or the money he diverted to fund cash payrolls for both businesses, as well as other expenses, the release states.

Psaros also failed to properly report all of the income he earned in 2009 on his
personal income tax return. He also did not pay payroll taxes and failed to file
true and accurate Forms 941 for Mariner's Cove and Horizon Diner for the years 2008,
2009, 2010 and 2012.

For sentencing purposes, Psaros’s relevant conduct was taken
into account by the court relating to his failure to report all of the income he received in
2009 as well as 2010. The court also took into account the payroll taxes he failed to
pay over for the years 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012, according to the release.

Image:Patch file photo