Maryland business owner sentenced to prison for employment tax crimes

Date: March 12, 2026

Contact: [email protected]

Washington - A Maryland man was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for willfully failing to account for and pay over payroll taxes on behalf of telecommunications businesses he owned and operated.

On April 14, 2025, a federal jury convicted Brett Hill, of Parkton and Berlin, Maryland, of 16 counts of willful failure to collect and pay over payroll taxes. According to court documents, statements made in court, and evidence presented at trial: As the CEO or president of two telecommunications companies, Hill was responsible for withholding federal income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes from his employees' wages and paying those funds over to the government. He also was responsible for filing tax returns each quarter and for paying over the companies' share of Social Security and Medicare taxes. From the second quarter of 2016 through fourth quarter of 2018, Hill withheld taxes from his employees' wages at one or both of his companies but did not pay those taxes - or his companies' shares of employment taxes - over to the federal government. During this period, Hill also did not file quarterly employment tax returns as required by law. Instead of paying the taxes he withheld from his employees' paychecks, Hill paid himself a salary and paid other expenses.

In total, Hill caused a tax loss to the United States of over $2 million.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher ordered Hill to serve three years of supervised release and to pay approximately $658,485.81 in restitution to the United States.

IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Shawn Noud and Catriona Coppler of the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division, Tax Section, prosecuted the case.

IRS-CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. It is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS-CI has 18 field offices located across the U.S. and maintains an international presence through attaché posts abroad.