North Carolina Auto Business Owner Convicted of Failing to Pay More than $2 Million in Employment Taxes
A North Carolina man was sentenced today to one year and one day in prison for failing to pay more than $2 million in employment taxes, causing a huge tax loss to the IRS.
According to court documents and statements made in court, George Taylor Jr., of Wilmington, North Carolina, owns and operates National Speed, a high performance auto dealership. As chairman and president, Taylor was responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes from employee wages and paying those taxes to the IRS. However, from 2014 to 2021, Taylor withheld required taxes but failed to remit them to the IRS or file required employment tax returns.
Taylor implemented this program using accounting software to calculate the taxes to be withheld from employee paychecks. After withholding the funds, he kept the money for himself and his businesses instead of paying the IRS. This resulted in a total tax loss of $2,272,072.
In addition to serving one year and one day in prison, US District Judge Richard Myers II of the Eastern District of North Carolina sentenced Taylor to three years of supervised release. Taylor was also ordered to pay $2,615,534 in restitution to the United States.
The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation. Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Department of Justice’s Tax Division and US Attorney Michael F. Easley Jr. of the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement.
The case was prosecuted by District Attorney Brian Flanagan of the Internal Revenue Service and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Ontjes of the Eastern District of North Carolina.
