On October 29, 2019 we posted The IRS is Now Criminally Prosecuting Employers For FailureTo Pay Withheld Payroll Taxes!, now the DoJ is reporting that one of the men mentioned in our blog Post, who pleaded guilty to failing to pay over employment taxes, was sentenced to 24 months in Prison for not paying Employment Tax Withholdings.
According to court documents, between 2002 and 2017, Ricardo Betancourt owned and operated multiple parcel delivery businesses in the South Florida area. Betancourt’s businesses earned gross revenues of more than $100 million.
Through his businesses, Betancourt employed hundreds of employees and was responsible for collecting and paying over to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) the taxes withheld from employees’ paychecks. Betancourt withheld payroll taxes from his employees, but he deliberately failed to pay over those withholdings and other associated taxes to the IRS, despite his obligation to do so.
In 2013 And 2014, Betancourt Did Not Pay Over Approximately 97 Percent Of The Federal Employment Taxes He Withheld From His Employees.
In 2015 and 2016, Betancourt did not pay over any of the federal employment taxes he withheld from his employees. For the quarter ending December 2016, Betancourt admitted that he failed to truthfully account for and pay over payroll taxes of approximately $727,478.
In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke ordered Betancourt to serve three years of supervised release and to pay approximately $9,033,318 in restitution to the United States.
Have Payroll Tax Problems?
Contact the Tax Lawyers at
Marini & Associates, P.A.
for a FREE Tax HELP Contact Us at:
orToll Free at 888-8TaxAid
Read more at: Tax Times blog
