CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – A man who owns and operates two businesses in Clarksville pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to tax evasion after falsifying employee wage documents at both establishments.

Andrew Huy Nguyen, who owns both the Call It Pho restaurant and Venus Nails Spa in Clarksville, admitted responsibility for a tax loss of more than $428,000, according to an announcement from U.S. Attorney Mark H. Wildasin for the Middle District of Tennessee.

On March 3, the 54-year-old was charged in a criminal information, which alleged he willfully evaded his responsibility to pay his employer’s share of employment taxes to the IRS by underreporting the wages he paid his employees at Call It Pho, according to a news release from David Boling, public information officer for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee.

The information also alleged Nguyen hid from the IRS the true amount of wages he paid his Call It Pho employees by failing to issue some employees W-2 Forms, by paying some employees solely in cash, and by paying some employees a combination of 50% check and 50% cash, the news release said.

For tax years 2017, 2018 and 2019, Nyugen evaded more than $34,000 of the employer’s employment taxes related to Call it Pho, according to the news release. He also allegedly failed to withhold and pay over to the IRS approximately $78,667 in employment taxes and federal income taxes from his employees’ paychecks at Call It Pho.

Nyugen also prepared and issued 1099 Forms instead of W-2 Forms to disguise the wages paid to employees as “non-employee compensation,” the release continued. He further disguised the wages by issuing 1099 Forms that falsely made it appear as though the Call It Pho employees worked at another business that he owned, Venus Nails Spa.

At Venus Nails Spa, located at 2728 Wilma Rudolph Boulevard, Nyugen also issued false 1099 Forms to nail technicians that did not report all the wages he paid them, the news release said.

The information also said that Nguyen paid Venus employees at least $946,716.24 in cash, which he did not report on the 1099 Forms that he issued to them, which caused his employees to file false tax returns that did not report all their income.

This resulted in an additional tax loss of approximately $315,856, the news release said.

Nguyen will be sentenced on Sept. 23, and faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He has agreed to pay immediate restitution in the amount of $428,620.12.

The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn W. Booth.