Zetti’s Pizza and Pasta, located at the corner of Flint and Maple Road across the street from North Campus, owes more than $112,000 in sales tax revenue, according to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. The restaurant was seized by the state last Thursday, Feb. 16, for nonpayment of taxes.
“The state Tax Department makes every effort to work with taxpayers to get them into compliance with their obligations under the law,” Ryan Cleveland, a spokesperson for the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, said.
Cleveland says seizure is typically a last resort for the Department of Taxation and Finance after substantial periods of non-compliance and/or non-responsiveness.
“Even at that point, we will work with business owners to allow them to reopen as soon as possible. But it does require the business to make a good faith effort to address tax debts,” Cleveland said.
The Maple Road location, which opened in early 2009, was the second Zetti’s in Buffalo. Other locations previously existed in University Plaza across from South Campus, on Transit Road near Sheridan Drive and the Elmwood strip. The Maple Road location was the last one to remain open prior to its closure last Thursday.
This isn’t the first time that Zetti’s has had a run-in with the law. In 2014, the restaurant was evicted from its Elmwood Avenue location after it failed to pay $9,000 in back rent, according to The Buffalo News.
In 2021, Zetti’s was fined by a federal district court judge for failing to comply with a July 2020 subpoena from the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor.
Zetti’s owner John Fusco couldn’t be reached for comment, and phone calls to the restaurant were not returned in time for publication.
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Photo: Ryan Hagen | UB Athletics
