A local landscaper who performed work in Pleasanton and Livermore has been sentenced for tax evasion, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Kevin Matthew Hoggatt was sentenced last week to five months community confinement followed by five months home detention, three years of supervised release, a $30,000 fine and ordered to pay restitution of $53,593 for tax evasion, United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello and IRS agent Scott O'Briant announced.
Hoggatt, 45, pleaded guilty June 24 to four counts of tax evasion. According to the plea, Hoggatt admitted that he was the sole proprietor of his landscaping business -- Norcal Landscape and Maintenance, which recently changed to KH Maintenance and Irrigation Repair, LLC.
According to court records from 2003-2006, Hoggatt underreported his gross receipts from his business by at least $364,318, according to investigators on the case. Some of Hoggatt's customers paid him with checks made payable to his business, some customers paid him with cash while others paid him with checks made payable to him personally. Hoggatt reported only some of the checks made payable to his business and did not report the cash or the checks that were made payable to him personally.
Hoggatt used some of the unreported income to pay off his mortgage on his home in Livermore, investigators reported. He also purchased a 2004 Ford F250 for $31,000 and opened a 10-month certificate of deposit in the amount of $40,000.
Hoggatt also failed to file Form 941, Employer's Quarterly federal tax returns. He falsely reported to the IRS that he did not have any employees, when during that time he had up to three employees who he paid in cash.
Comments
Avignon
on Oct 6, 2009 at 11:45 pm
on Oct 6, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Tax payment is mandatory for those employed, engaged in business or those who acquire certain properties such as real estate. Nonpayment of tax will be punishable by law. You can be sued for tax evasion. If you don't want to suffer such kind of consequence I think it might be better if you seek for a cash loan to settle the obligation.
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Registered user
Ruby Hill
on Oct 7, 2009 at 8:49 am
Registered user
on Oct 7, 2009 at 8:49 am
If Hoggatt had been one of Obama's cabinet members, he could have just said that he forgot to pay, or didn't know that the taxes applied to him.
Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Oct 7, 2009 at 9:39 am
on Oct 7, 2009 at 9:39 am
Complete & utter bull if you ask me! Some poor guy busts his ass doing jobs that 90+% of everyone of the rest of us are simply too lazy to do, gets paid under the table for a few of them & ends up with this?!
The hard working people of this country are getting screwed & this guy is taking the fall for the likes of the true criminals at AIG, Goldman Sachs, et. al.
[portion removed due to offensive language]
Pleasanton Meadows
on Oct 7, 2009 at 10:48 am
on Oct 7, 2009 at 10:48 am
Nice try Kevin. We all wish we didn't have to deal with this but the risk is too high, as you now know. Sorry to see it happen. So how much did you really get away with?
Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Oct 7, 2009 at 10:49 am
on Oct 7, 2009 at 10:49 am
Gee, because I work for a companay I should have to pay my tax but he should not? Please!!!
The poor guy had paid off his mortgage, bought a new truck with cash, funded a 40,000 CD etc..
He hid about 100 K of his income per year.. Not some poor sluff making an extra fifty bucks on the side.
The same people complaining about paying too much tax, in turn defend this criminal, who has unecessarily shifted his burden to them. The infrastructure does not exist through some sort of magic!
With the enforcement, the investigation, trial and incarceration it will cost you and me 1/2 million. (although it may save us more in detterant)
Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Oct 7, 2009 at 10:59 am
on Oct 7, 2009 at 10:59 am
Those fund could have been used to outfit a Hummer protecting our troops from an IAD
Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Oct 7, 2009 at 11:00 am
on Oct 7, 2009 at 11:00 am
Those fund could have been used to outfit a Hummer protecting our troops from an IAD
Downtown
on Oct 7, 2009 at 12:28 pm
on Oct 7, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Another sign that we need to get rid of income taxes altogether and switch to a National Sales Tax. Cheats like this guy are in the hundred millions in the U.S. (last count the IRS says 34% of Americans don't even file a tax return!). There's not enough room in all the prisons in the world to house the tax cheaters. And the added bonus is that a Natl sales tax taxes consumption instead of hard work! Give people an incentive to work again in this country.