BOSTON – The owner of King’s Roast Beef in Salem pleaded guilty to tax fraud in federal court in Boston on Monday.
John Kalantzis, 52, of Lynn, is charged with failing to pay approximately $383,000 in taxes. He pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding and assisting in filing a false tax return, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Kalantzis admitted to underreporting the gross receipts and expenses of King’s Roast Beef during the tax years of 2011 through 2015 in order to improperly reduce the federal income taxes owed by the restaurant, prosecutors said.
He did this by diverting some of the restaurant’s cash receipts to himself, paying for some of the restaurant supplies with cash and paying a portion of his employee’s wages in cash. Kalantzis then failed to report his conduct to his tax preparer, prosecutors said.
Kalantzis failed to report a total of $855,000 in gross receipts and expenses to the IRS during the tax years of 2011 through 2015, thereby avoiding paying corporate and personal taxes of $383,000. During each of those tax years, he failed to report cash receipts of approximately $275,000 and cash expenses of $115,000 on King’s Roast Beef tax returns, prosecutors said.
His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 2. The charge of aiding and assisting the filing of false tax returns provides for a sentence of no more than three years in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of $250,000, prosecutors said.
