Owner of Long Island Diner Pleads Guilty to Not Paying Employment Tax

A diner owner pleaded guilty today to failing to pay employment taxes, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Nikolaos Avgoustidis, the owner and operator of the Rocky Point Town House Diner, did not pay employment taxes for all of the diner’s employees. From 2011 to 2013, Avgoustidis paid certain employees in cash, without reporting it to the IRS, and further, without paying the social security and Medicare taxes that must be withheld from the employees’ wages. In total, Avgoustidis caused a tax loss to the IRS of approximately $130,000.

U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown scheduled the sentencing for Jan. 15, 2021. At sentencing, Avgoustidis faces a maximum sentence of 5 years. He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorneys Sean Green and Mark Kotila of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.