A doctor, formerly of Great Falls, pleaded guilty on Feb. 12 to willful failure to pay employment taxes, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting United States Attorney Raj Parekh for the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to court documents, from 2011 through 2018, Arshad Pervez Cheema owned and operated Walk-In Medical Center, PC, a medical practice located in Falls Church and Herndon. Cheema was responsible for collecting and paying to the IRS payroll taxes, which consisted of Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes that had been withheld from his employees’ wages, as well as an employer portion. Over a four-year period from 2012 to 2016, Cheema willfully did not pay more than $500,000 in payroll taxes. Instead, he used some of the withheld funds for other business ventures, including to open and run a restaurant in Washington, D.C. In addition, Cheema did not pay corporate taxes for Walk-In Medical Center, PC, nor did he pay employment taxes for another doctor’s office, Falls Church Family Care PC, which he operated. In total, Cheema did not pay more than $2 million in employment and corporate taxes.

U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga scheduled sentencing for June 23, 2021. At sentencing, Cheema faces a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment. Cheema also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and a fine.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg and Acting U.S. Attorney Parekh commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorney Casey S. Smith and Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell L. Carlberg, who are prosecuting the case.