BOSTON — A New Hampshire roofing contractor pleaded guilty on Tuesday in federal court in Boston in connection with failing to report income from his roofing and siding business to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). 

According to a release from the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's Office, Ronald McPhail, 53, of Windham, N.H., pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax return. U.S. Senior District Court Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. scheduled sentencing for Oct. 7, 2021. McPhail was charged with the crime in May.

McPhail owed more than $700,000 in income taxes to the IRS after he failed to report more than $7.1 million in revenue and approximately $2.43 million in income from his roofing and siding business on his federal tax returns for tax years 2014 through 2019. To conceal his scheme, McPhail cashed customer checks without first depositing them and withheld information concerning these checks and other business revenues from his tax preparers. 

The charge of filing a false tax return provides for a sentence of up to three years in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.