Portsmouth Businesswoman Admits To Not Paying $1.2 Million In Taxes

PORTSMOUTH, RI — The president of a Portsmouth electrical service business admitted in federal curt Wednesday she failed to pay more than $1.2 million in payroll taxes.

Gail Hynson, 59, president of Hynson Electrical Services, Inc., pleaded guilty to 10 counts of failure to account for and pay over payroll taxes and three counts of filing a false tax return. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 14, 2025.

"This defendant made a conscious choice to try and divert her payroll tax obligations as a business owner into her own pockets," U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha said. "Crimes like this impact not just the workers whose employer payroll taxes went unpaid, but all of our communities, which suffer when the taxes that benefit the common good go unpaid. Today’s conviction should send the clear message that this office will hold tax cheats accountable."

From 2016 to 2020, Hynson Electrical Services, Inc. employed about 13 employees. Beginning in the third quarter of 2018, and continuing through the fourth quarter of 2020, the business withheld employment taxes from its employees’ paychecks, to include federal income taxes, and Medicare and Social Security taxes, but never paid the IRS, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said the company also failed to file employer quarterly federal income tax returns with the government.

Acting in her capacity as company bookkeeper, Hynson created W2s for her and her husband for tax years 2017, 2018, and 2020. Prosecutors said information contained on the W2s, and incorporated on their personal joint tax returns, reflected that $18,418 in employment taxes had been withheld from their paychecks and paid to the IRS, when in fact she knew that no money had been paid over to the government.

"Gail Hynson chose to not only steal from the IRS, but also from her own employees to enrich herself," IRS CI Special Agent in Charge Harry Chavis said. "Hynson demonstrated extreme malice through her detrimental actions toward her own employees, whom she depended on most. Based on Hynson’s actions, her employees were on the hook to pay their payroll taxes twice. First through their withholdings, that were stolen by Hynson, and second when they filed their income taxes and had no withholdings reported."

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