On September 1, 2021 we posted IRS CONTINUES to Criminally Prosecutes Employers For Failure To Pay Withheld Payroll Taxes - As Promised! where we discussed that we posted The IRS is Now Criminally Prosecuting Employers For Failure To Pay Withheld Payroll Taxes! where we discussed that the IRS is stepping up criminally prosecuting business owners for failing to turn over withheld payroll taxes and unlisted several other criminal prosecutions for failing to pay to the IRS withheld payroll taxes. On November 5, 2021 we posted Another Criminal Prosecution for Failure to Pay Payroll Taxes, where we discussed that a West Virginia woman pleaded guilty on November 4, 2021 to willfully failing to pay over to the IRS employment taxes withheld from employees’ wages. On Feburary 4, 2022 we posted And Yet Another Criminal Prosecution for Failure to Pay Payroll Taxes, where we that a federal grand jury in Oakland, California, returned an indictment on February 3, 2022 charging a California businessman with failing to pay over employment taxes to the IRS.
Now According To The DoJ, A California Man Was Sentenced
Today To 18 Months In Prison For Employment Tax Crimes.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Michael Todd Lucas controlled TradeMotion Inc. (TradeMotion), a company that sold software to automotive dealerships.
Lucas controlled TradeMotion’s business and financial affairs, and therefore had a legal duty to withhold employment taxes on behalf of the company’s employees and pay those funds to the IRS.
From the fourth quarter of 2011 through the third quarter of 2015, Lucas collected more than $2.1 million in withholdings from TradeMotion employees and issued them W-2 forms.
However, he paid only $760,017 of these funds to the IRS. Lucas also did not pay to the IRS employment taxes withheld on behalf of the employees of other companies he controlled, causing an additional tax loss of more than $3.5 million.
In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Battalia ordered Lucas to serve three years of supervised release and to pay approximately $4.9 million in restitution.
Thinking of Borrowing From Your Company's
Payroll Tax Withholdings?
Read more at: Tax Times blog
