Portsmouth businesswoman sentenced for using employees’ withheld taxes to pay personal expenses

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — A Rhode Island businesswoman who collected but did not pay over eight years in employee federal withholding taxes was sentenced in U.S. District Court.

Gail M. Hynson, 59, president of Hynson Electrical Services, Inc, pleaded guilty in October of 2024 to ten counts of failure to account for and pay over payroll taxes and three counts of filing a false tax return.

She was sentenced to two years of probation, with the first six months to be served in home detention, according to the office of acting U.S. Attorney Sara Miron Bloom.

From 2016-2024, Hynson withheld taxes from employee paychecks, but did not provide the funds to the IRS.

She then transferred much of the money to her personal bank accounts and used it to pay personal expenses such as a mortgage, car payments and her daughter’s student loans.

Hynson failed to remit a total of $1.2 million to the IRS between 2016 and 2024.

Hynson and her husband also submitted false personal tax returns to the IRS.