Kimberling City doc headed to prison for tax evasion

Nearly four months after pleading guilty to failing to file tax returns, a Kimberling City doctor will spend years in prison and pay over $1 million in restitution.

Dr. Phillip Psaltis, 65, was sentenced by U.S. Magistrate Judge David Rush to two years in federal prison without parole and ordered to pay $1.6 million in restitution to the IRS, the Missouri Department of Revenue and the Oklahoma Department of Revenue, according to a news release from Tammy Dickinson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

On Oct. 9, Psaltis pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to file income tax returns, specifically in 2009, when he earned around $450,664, and in 2010, when he earned about $433,339. However, the doctor also admitted he has failed to file federal income tax returns since 2002.

From 2006-11, Psaltis worked as an emergency room physician, first at Missouri hospitals in Lamar and Louisiana and most recently in Lawton and Claremore, Okla. During 2009, 2010 and 2011, Psaltis had unreported income of $1.2 million for a total tax loss of $377,022, according to the release.

Psaltis also owes $551,434 in outstanding federal taxes for 2002-08, and because he didn’t file his 2012 tax return, the IRS estimates he will owe another $128,109. In addition to the federal taxes, the doctor owes $62,259 in Missouri and Oklahoma state income taxes, according to the release.

Psaltis’s medical license was suspended three times – in 2009, 2012 and 2013 – for delinquency of Missouri state taxes. The ER doctor received the maximum prison sentence for his actions under federal guidelines.