DOR official: Mino’s Roast Beef seized

LYNN – The owner of a Lynn roast beef restaurant denied owing $98,000 in unpaid meals and corporate taxes, a day after state revenue officials seized his restaurant.James Varelas, reached at his restaurant Mino’s Roast Beef, 244 Broadway, said Friday afternoon his tax debt is “squared away.”Department of Revenue spokeswoman Ann Dufresne on Friday said revenue agents seized Mino’s at 11 a.m. Thursday, taking possession of Mino’s cash register, equipment and a Dodge Ram truck.View Mino’s Roast Beef seized by authorities in a larger mapBy late Thursday afternoon, Mino’s and DOR had agreed to a tax repayment plan, said Dufresne. She would not provide plan details but said Revenue officials made “many, many attempts” prior to Thursday’s seizure to arrange a payment plan for Mino’s unpaid meals and corporate taxes dating back to 2008.”Basically, seizure gets the owner’s attention. As soon as we enter into an agreement, we lift the seizure,” Dufresne said.Varelas, a Peabody resident, acknowledged he does owe some state taxes, adding, “My accountant is working on it.””It’s all set – everything is squared away,” Varelas said.Dufresne said the meals taxes cited in the seizure were supposed to be collected and paid to the state monthly.Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].