She once owned five H&R Block franchises, along with a day-care center. But Tania Fay Pryor of Hastings will serve time behind bars for failing to file tax returns or pay taxes -- including for her former employees, though she deducted the money from their paychecks.
A Dakota County judge on Thursday sentenced Pryor on six felony counts, ordering her to serve up to two years and three months in the state women's prison in Shakopee.
But Judge Robert King stayed that sentence for five years as long as Pryor serves six months in jail and follows all other conditions during her five years on probation. Those conditions include his order that she pay restitution, to be determined by the Minnesota Department of Revenue.
A Revenue Department spokesman has said that it's rare for accountants who prepare taxes for others to be charged with failing to pay their own taxes -- and rarely do they fail to file returns for more than one year, as in this case.
Pryor, 37, was initially charged with 18 tax-related counts between April 2006 and January 2008. She owed more than $43,000 in unpaid taxes.
She pleaded guilty last May to four counts of failing to file returns or report her income, and two more charges of failing to pay taxes.
As part of her penalty, she's to begin serving six months' jail time in February. If she violates conditions of her sentence, including an order to cooperate with the Revenue Department, she'll serve various prison terms for each crime, which will run concurrently.
According to Revenue Department records, Pryor did not file withholding tax returns and tax deposits for her tax-preparing business for periods of 2007 and 2008. A criminal complaint filed in Dakota County District Court said Pryor owed more than $7,500 in withholding tax for 2006 for that business.
