Auto body shop owner pleads guilty to tax fraud

BOSTON – The owner of Everett and Worcester auto body shops pleaded guilty today to a payroll tax scheme resulting in a tax loss to the IRS of more than $290,000.

Adam Haddad, 43, of Shrewsbury, pleaded guilty to three counts of aiding the preparation of false tax returns before U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman, who scheduled sentencing for Jan. 13, 2021. Haddad was charged in August 2020.

For tax quarters ending in March 2015 through June 2017, Haddad paid a significant portion of the wages to employees of his company, Accurate Collision, Inc. “under the table.” In doing so, Haddad caused Accurate Collision, Inc. to file false returns with the IRS which underreported the actual wages he had paid his employees as well as the employment taxes due to the IRS. In total, Haddad caused a loss to the IRS of at least $292,231.

The charging statue provides for a sentence of up to three years in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Joleen Simpson, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Miron Bloom of Lelling’s Securities, Financial and Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case.

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