The head of a Beaver Falls mineral company became a federal felon Tuesday after pleading guilty to filing a false income tax return by declaring his kids’ college tuition payments as business expenses for five years.
Paul J. Austin, who runs J.P. Austin Associates Inc., a mineral processing company, waived indictment by grand jury and entered a plea to a charge filed last month in U.S. District Court.
From 2012 through 2017, Austin was president of the company and his wife was the treasurer. They jointly filed Form 1040 for those calendar years.
Austin admitted he had his company pay for college expenses for his two children, including tuition and student loan payments, and then categorized the payments as business expenses under bogus vendor names.
The couple’s tax preparer didn’t know about the college expenses, prosecutors said, and the payments weren’t included as taxable income on the 1040 forms filed with the IRS.
As a result, Austin underreported his income in the amount of $159,982. He’ll have to pay that in restitution to the IRS, plus interest.
U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab said he would sentence Austin in July.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
