Kathryn Pocock, the owner of Sunshine Cleaners, a home cleaning service in Connecticut, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, plus a year of supervised release, for tax evasion.
Pocock started the company in 1991, and from 2015 to 2019 withdrew approximately $855,000 from the business, that she did not report on her tax returns. She cashed numerous checks that were made out to the business, and deposited business checks into her personal accounts. She also paid her employees under the table, in cash, to avoid paying payroll taxes owed to the state.
Pocock was methodical as she covered up her tracks, providing her tax preparer with false spreadsheets and documentation that significantly understated the business income and over-inflated employee related expenses.
In addition to her prison sentence, Pocock was ordered to pay restitution of $180,451 to the IRS and $33,514 to the state of Connecticut.