Thursday, October 24, 2013

Employer's Failure To Pay Employee's Taxes Turns Criminal

This case recently came out regarding an owner of a company who continued to fail to pay over payroll tax to the IRS.  In that case the owner was sentenced to prison and appealed his sentence.  The sentence was upheld.  All taxpayers should be aware of this case because the IRS has great power to convert any failure to pay the employee's taxes into a criminal matter. Further, to the extent that the owners continue to fail to make payroll tax deposits increases the chance of criminal liability.  If there are past payroll tax liabilities the best way to avoid it turning into criminal is to be current on the present Federal tax deposits.  See case excerpt below:

 *1 Bruce Gregory Harrison, III, was tried and convicted on 63 counts of violating federal tax laws. Following his conviction, the district court sentenced Harrison to 144 months imprisonment and three years of supervised release. The court also ordered Harrison to pay restitution in the amount of $43,207,976 as a condition of supervised release. Harrison now appeals, and we affirm.

Harrison owned and operated several temporary staffing agencies from offices in Greensboro, North Carolina. Although Harrison employed a large workforce, he failed to file required Internal Revenue Service (IRS) forms and failed to collect and withhold, inter alia, payroll taxes. Harrison also failed to file personal tax returns for 2004, 2005, and 2006. In late 2006, Harrison sold the staffing companies to two employees. While those employees operated the companies, the payroll taxes were paid and employment tax returns were filed. In 2008, Harrison reacquired the companies and again stopped paying payroll taxes. Harrison used these withheld payments to fund his lifestyle, including the purchase of a luxury beach house and the production of two motion pictures, The court also ordered Harrison to pay restitution of $43,207,976.1  United States v. Harrison, 12-4819, 2013 WL 5486750 (4th Cir. Oct. 3, 2013).

Thursday, November 17, 2011

IRS Notice

The IRS is sending out a lot of Notices this time of the year.  Don't panic yet.  First, figure out the type of Notice.  You can do this by looking at the top right hand corner of the Notice.  There are numbers in the top right corner.  The numbers usually follow the reference letters "CP". Then look for the numbers after the CP.  Does the Notice have the numbers of "504" "503" "21" "17".  The Notice to before a levy is the CP 504 .  The CP 503 Notice is one prior to the CP 504 Notice.  The other numbers are just reminder Notices as to how much you owe...like you forgot.  If you received a CP 504 Notice you must do something now.  All other Notices besides a CP 504 Notice gives you time. 

If you received a Notice and need help with it let me know.  There are things to do to avoid a levy.