The Massachusetts Department of Revenue yesterday said it seized control of Cambridge ice cream icon Toscanini's because the owner owes more than $167,000 in taxes dating back to 2000.
Department spokesman Bob Bliss yesterday said the agency has worked for years to resolve the matter but has made no progress. The department plans to auction off the assets of the Central Square shop, including equipment and furnishings, to recoup whatever money it can. About $140,000 owed by owner Gus Rancatore is in meal taxes and the balance is in employee withholding taxes, Bliss said. Rancatore did not return messages seeking comment last night. His brother Joe Rancatore, who owns a separate ice cream firm in Belmont, declined to discuss the matter.
"There had been a lot of discussion with the owner. He was aware there was a problem - but ultimately our folks made a judgment that the situation wasn't getting any better and he was getting further and further behind," Bliss said of the decision to shut down Toscanini's.
Once dubbed the "best ice cream in the world" by The New York Times, Toscanini's has attracted ice cream aficionados since 1981. Over the years, ice cream veteran Gus Rancatore opened other locations in Harvard Square and Somerville, but most recently operated only out of the original Central Square location on Main Street.
Toscanini's frozen treats featured classic sorbets, creamy confections chock full of French chocolates, and more unusual concoctions including Guinness ice cream made with the Irish stout.
In 2006, Rancatore celebrated the Amazon.com publication of his short memoir, "Ice Cream Man: 25 years at Toscanini's," in which he thanked the nearby MIT students for their patronage and wrote about how he still used an ice cream machine built by two superconductor students offended by the noise and clunkiness of the equipment.
Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.
