Lien takes a bite out of Irish Times
Pub owner owes $12,542
The owner of the Irish Times bar on Main Street says the $12,542 in back meals taxes he owes the state Department of Revenue will be paid off in about a year.
The department filed a lien against the restaurant July 23.
He also says paying the 5 percent meals tax is no problem when times are good, but downtown Worcester is a restaurant no-man's land that has folks in the notoriously volatile business on the edge of ruin.
Set it and forget it
"When you're doing well, it's simple, it's just bookkeeping," said Scot Neri, who owns the Irish Times at 244 Main St. as the Main Street Brewing Co. Inc. "But in this town, this is a horrible restaurant town," he said.
Neri said, "the people who run Worcester are so worried about making the Canal District and Shrewsbury Street flourish that the places they see all the time" are ignored. He said Main Street is deserted when it should be hopping.
"I'm one of the busiest restaurants in downtown, and I can barely pay my bills," Neri said.
The department of revenue confirmed that Neri owes $12,542 in back meals taxes.
"We encourage restitution on this stuff," said Bob Bliss, a department spokesman. He said it's only "after there was repeated rebuffing of attempts" to get businesses to pay their arrears that the department begins property seizure proceedings.
Many businesses establish a pay-off plan, Bliss said. And that's what Irish Times has done.
Neri said the July lien was the result of a misunderstanding with the revenue department.
Neri said he was on one payment plan with the department after the restaurant declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2005. He was under the impression that under that plan, he could pay down the back taxes accumulated before the bankruptcy, and would get a pass on current meals tax payments.
But that wasn't the case.
"I was told I have to start paying the old ones, so I started paying the old ones," Neri said. It wasn't until it was too late, and a lien was in order that the department told him he didn't have a pass on current taxes.
Neri said he signed an agreement to pay down the $12,542 within 18 months. "I've had the funds taken out of a checking account for four or five months now," he said.
"If you get behind on anything in the restaurant business, it just snowballs," Neri said. At its lowest, Irish Times carried between $300,000 and $400,000 in bad debt, Neri said. "Everywhere you looked was an avalanche ready to happen."
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