A Philadelphia man admitted to conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by paying himself and his co-workers in cash in order to avoid payroll taxes.
Henry “Hank” Collins, 53, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Karen M. Williams to an information charging him with one count of conspiring to defraud the IRS.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Collins worked at Davis Brothers Chimney Sweep & Masonry (Davis Brothers), a business located in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey. Collins admitted that between January 1, 2018 and April 30, 2024, he conspired with the spouse of the owner of Davis Brothers to defraud the IRS.
As part of the conspiracy, Collins utilised a commercial check casher to negotiate a substantial amount of Davis Brothers’ gross receipts checks. Collins used some of the resulting cash to pay himself and other Davis Brothers employees in cash. Collins provided the rest of the cash to the business owner and spouse.
Collins then provided false and misleading information to the business’s outside accounting firm, which resulted in the preparation and filing of false payroll tax returns that omitted the employees paid in cash and their cash wages.
Collins also admitted filing false individual income tax returns for himself that concealed his own cash wages. Collins admitted that the conspiracy resulted in a tax loss of approximately $1 million.
The count of conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for August 18, 2025.
