Scottsdale business owner sentenced to prison for tax evasion

 

Date: September 27, 2023

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

Scottsdale, AZ — James Piccolo of Scottsdale was sentenced on September 27 to 18 months in prison and three years supervised release and ordered to pay full restitution for willful failure to collect or pay over tax.

Piccolo plead guilty to the charge on January 10 in federal court. According to the plea agreement and other court records, between 2017 and 2018 Piccolo failed to remit taxes owed to the IRS for two companies he owned and operated, Tecademics, LLC, and IQUP, Inc. These companies were aimed at instructing clients on how to manage online businesses and conduct marketing efforts on the internet.

Piccolo acknowledged in his plea that he was the "responsible person" for submitting tax payments due and owing to the IRS for these companies. Over the course of five quarters, Piccolo did not remit taxes owed for the amounts reflected in the companies' Form 941 Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Returns, totaling $651,477.58.

Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation in this case. The United States Attorney's Office, District of Arizona, handled the prosecution.