Connecticut Dentist Sentenced to Prison for Tax Evasion

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that BOULOS HANNA, also known as “Paul Hanna,” 66, of East Lyme, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Omar A. Williams in Hartford to 10 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for tax evasion.  Judge Williams also ordered Hanna to pay a $25,000 fine in addition to his restitution obligation.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Hanna is the sole owner of Paul Hanna DMD PC, a dental practice in New London.  Hanna takes fees from dental patients in the form personal checks, cash, and credit card payments.  Hanna owns the building where his dental practice is located and the practice pays rent to Hanna individually.

For each of the 2000 through 2009 tax years, Hanna filed a Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return for himself and his wife, and paid the tax due and owing for those years, typically by having withholdings during the year sufficient to cover his tax liability.  For the 2010 through 2012 tax years, Hanna filed a Form 1040 for himself and his wife, but did not pay the tax due and owing.  As a result, from approximately April 2012 through 2017, Hanna was subject to IRS collections enforcement for the 2010 through 2012 tax years, including forced collection activity, such as liens placed on property and seized payments taken by way of levy.

From 2013 through 2020, Hanna earned approximately $1.6 million in taxable income from his work as a dentist and from rental income.  However, he failed to file tax returns for any of those years, resulting in a loss to the IRS of $244,541.  In addition to failing to file personal federal income tax returns, Hanna attempted to evade the assessment of tax by paying himself “management fees” instead of a reasonable wage, operating in cash by self-endorsing business checks to himself and cashing these checks to keep money out of his personal bank accounts, and paying personal expenses directly from his business accounts without reflecting those payments as income.

Hanna is required to pay $244,541 in restitution.

Hanna pleaded guilty on July 17, 2023.  He is required to report to prison on May 6.

This matter was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Wines.