Legal Defense for Employers Facing Criminal Charges for Failing to Pay Withholding Tax
Businesses are struggling in this economy and one of the ways this is evident is in the increasing number of businesses that are failing to pay employee withholding tax in a timely manner or at all. If an employer is willfully failing to withhold taxes or to pay those taxes, they can be charged with the criminal offense of failure to collect or pay taxes under 26U.S.C. section 7202.
- Some employers are failing to withhold FICA, Medicare, or state or federal taxes from the employee's paycheck.
- Some employers are withholding money but failing to pay withholding tax to the IRS or state tax authority.
- Some employers are paying the employee share but not the employer share.
Attorney Mark L. Horwitz and his associates are skilled and experienced in representing employers throughout the country as well as, across the state of Florida in state and federal criminal tax matters such as a failure to pay withholding taxes. If your company is under investigation, or faces an audit or criminal charges, contact the Law Offices of Mark L. Horwitz, P.A. We represent individuals and businesses in federal court on criminal tax charges.
Withholding Errors and Criminal Violations
In order for the IRS to bring a criminal case for failure to pay withholding tax, they must prove that it was an intentional violation of the law, not a mistake.
- Did your company use an outside vendor to handle payroll? If you were unaware of the failure to pay withholding tax, it was not an intentional crime on your part.
- Were you wrongly advised by an accountant, bookkeeper, or other financial professional? That is not an intentional, criminal violation of the tax law.
- Did you believe the employee was a contractor for whom you were not legally required to withhold payroll taxes and only later find out they had been misclassified? This was also not an intentional violation.
As your defense lawyers, we will develop all appropriate defenses including any violations on your part that were not intentional, or that you were not the person responsible for withholding from employees and paying the withholding taxes to the IRS. Our first goal is to avoid prosecution, and if prosecution is unavoidable, to minimize the impact of any penalties.
Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, ensuring a defense attorney responds to you quickly in case of emergency. Contact our office online or call (866) 784-0023 for experienced and aggressive criminal defense representation in tax cases involving failure to pay withholding tax.
