Oakland, California - A federal grand jury in Oakland, California, returned an indictment Thursday charging a California businessman with failing to pay over employment taxes to the IRS.

According to the indictment, Larry Kudsk, of Berkeley, operated two construction businesses, M. Gutierrez Inc. and Kudsk Construction Inc. For both companies, Kudsk allegedly was responsible for filing quarterly employment tax returns and collecting and paying to the IRS payroll taxes withheld from employees’ wages. Kudsk allegedly did not timely file employment tax returns, and did not pay withholdings to the IRS, for the last three quarters of 2015 for M. Gutierrez Inc., and for all four quarters of 2016 for Kudsk Construction Inc. In total, Kudsk allegedly caused a tax loss to the IRS of more than $250,000.

Kudsk is scheduled to make his initial court appearance on Feb. 11 before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. If convicted, Kudsk faces a maximum of five years in prison for each of the seven counts of failing to pay over employment taxes. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds for the Northern District of California and Special Agent in Charge Mark H. Pearson of IRS-Criminal Investigation made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Julia M. Rugg and Charles A. O’Reilly of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Lloyd-Lovett of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, Corporate and Securities Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.