Bucks Business Owner Sentenced In $1.3M Tax Fraud Scheme: DOJ

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — A Bucks County construction business owner has been sentenced to prison and to pay restitution for their orchestration of a tax fraud scheme.

Samuel Bullock, 72, of Langhorne, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and one year of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $3,501,261 restitution by United States District Court Judge Michael M. Baylson.

According to a statement from United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams, Bullock's tax fraud scheme allowed him to avoid paying nearly $1.3 million in federal income taxes, and millions more in interest and penalties.

Bullock pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and assisting in the filing of a false federal tax return and one count of willful failure to file a federal tax return back in February. The charges stemmed from his efforts to avoid paying taxes on income from his construction business.

Back in 2009, the Internal Revenue Service secured liens for more than $1.9 million that Bullock owed in taxes, interest, and penalties after he had repeatedly failed to file his federal income tax returns.

According to the investigation, Bullock took steps to avoid collection by arranging to have his business income paid over to a sole proprietorship that he had set up in the name of his spouse. He provided his clients with new Forms W-9 with his spouse’s Social Security number and opened a new business checking account in his spouse’s name as the alleged sole proprietor.

Bullock then reported his own income on the tax return of his spouse. He used the filing status “Married filing separately.”

"Samuel Bullock’s scheme to enrich himself and avoid paying his fair share of income taxes victimized honest American taxpayers and business owners who do pay their tax obligations," U.S. Attorney Williams said. "By ignoring the IRS and its legitimate demands for information from him, the defendant created a self-inflicted wound: compounding his already-significant tax debt. This type of fraud will be aggressively investigated and prosecuted by this Office."

"Every American who pays his or her taxes can breathe easy knowing that tax cheats, like Mr. Bullock, are being held accountable," said IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Yury Kruty. "IRS-CI has several investigative tools at its disposal to detect schemes like this. Those who think that they can outsmart the IRS should think again."