TAX NEWS - June 2010

New York Tax: Collision shop owner admits sales tax fraud

Alan Sanin, the owner of a Buffalo collision shop, pleaded guilty Monday to felony sales tax fraud for withholding $110,275 from the state on $1.4 million in sales in recent years.

Sanin, 63, made a$10,000 payment on his overdue tax bill Monday. At the request of prosecutors, Erie County Judge Michael F. Pietruszka ordered him to come up with another $26,000 by his Aug. 25 sentencing.

The judge did not give Sanin a sentencing commitment and allowed him to remain free until that court appearance. Sanin faces a sentence ranging from probation to 15 years in prison on his guilty plea to second-degree grand larceny and the felony charge of criminal tax fraud.

Susan H. Sadinsky, head of the district attorney's Crimes Against Revenue Bureau, said Sanin was charged with illegally holding on to the sales tax revenue at his Executive Collision shop at 742 Hertel Ave. between March 2005 and Aug. 31, 2009.

The case against Sanin, of Meadow Lane in the Town of Tonawanda, was referred to the district attorney's office by the state Department of Taxation and Finance. Sanin declined to comment as he left court Monday.