By Jarret Bencks
Medford Patch, May 18, 2011
A seized Medford Square restaurant charged patrons a meals tax but didn’t pay what they collected to the state, a Department of Revenue Spokesman said Thursday. 
Il Faro, an Italian eatery located at 21 Main St., was seized by the Department of Revenue last week because it owes the state a total of $142,784.20 in taxes and penalty fees, department spokesman Bob Bliss said. Nearly all of the back taxes, which date back to 2006, stemmed from the meals tax, he said.
“Patrons paid the meals tax, but the restaurant didn’t forward that to DOR,” Bliss said.
Seizing a business is the last thing the Department of Revenue will do in their efforts to collect unpaid taxes, Bliss said.
“You only get to this point when everything else DOR tries to collect has failed,” he said. “This is sort of the last stop.”
The restaurant had an orange sign on its door Tuesday, reading “SEIZED.” Several florescent signs remained lit inside the windows of the Italian eatery Tuesday afternoon.
If Giuseppe Longo, the owner of the restaurant, can come up with a reasonable down payment and payment plan going forward, the business could be reopened, Bliss said.
“We always hope that’s the case, because it’s a lot easier for us,” Bliss said. “We get the money, the business opens back up and the jobs don’t get lost.”
The business, not the building, was seized. If a payment plan isn’t agreed upon, the property of the restaurant will go to auction in about 4 to 6 weeks, Bliss said.
A call to the restaurant Tuesday was unanswered.
Original Story:
A restaurant in Medford Square has been seized by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue for nonpayment of taxes, according to a sign on its door.
Il Faro, an Italian restaurant located at 21 Main St. in Medford, had an orange sign on its door Tuesday, reading “SEIZED.” The sign was dated May 11, 2011.
Several florescent signs remained lit inside the windows of the Italian eatery Tuesday afternoon.
According to filings with the Massachusetts Secretary of State, the owner of the business is Giuseppe Longo. Il Faro first filed as a business with the Secretary of State in 1996, according to state records.
The business was seized but not the building.
The sign on the door read, “The Business Property of Il Faro, Inc. had been seized for nonpayment of taxes, and is now in possession of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts…Any person who attempts to tamper or interfere with this property will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
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