Inside this edition:
In the News…

• What the Puck Was She Thinking?
• Florida Pretend Millionaire Gets Real Refund and Jail Time
• Did You Know
• Not Such a Minor Offense
• M is for Marriage

Interesting Reading…

• Question and Answer
• A Five Star Review
• For the foodies – One-Pot French Onion Farro
• A Bit of Tax Humor

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What the Puck Was She Thinking?

Jennifer Durham, an employee of the Rapid City Rush, a professional hockey team in South Dakota, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion for embezzling $700,000 from the organization.

While employed as the team’s office manager between 2010 and 2019, Durham falsified entries into accounting records to make it appear that the money she was stealing was spent on legitimate business expenses.

Durham paid herself $87,000 in mileage reimbursement and sales commissions, transferred nearly $285,000 from the team’s bank account to pay her American Express bill and transferred another $181,000 to her personal bank account. Durham admitted to taking $214,971 in cash receipts to use for personal expenses and made payments totaling $7,712 to cover her family’s cell phone bill. She did not report the additional income to the IRS, causing a tax loss of $186,277 to the federal government.

The investigation began when new team owners discovered “Inconsistencies and irregularities about some bookkeeping handled by a single former employee.”

As part of the plea agreement, Durham must pay restitution to the team totaling $700,000 and the IRS $186,277. She faces up to 45 years in prison.

Florida Pretend Millionaire Gets Real Refund and Real Jail Time

Mark Goolsby pleaded guilty in Florida to filing a false tax return.

For the 2014 tax year, Goolsby falsely claimed that he had earned over a million dollars in 1099-MISC income and had paid more than $800,000 in federal withholding taxes. The IRS processed the return and issued Goolsby a refund check for over $400,000.

Not long after sending the check, the IRS realized their mistake and began collection proceedings to get the money back. Goolsby refused to return the money and took great lengths to hide the funds from the IRS. He opened multiple bank accounts, purchased a car in someone else’s name, withdrew large amounts of cash, and continued to live a lavish lifestyle.

Goolsby was sentenced to 24 months in prison and ordered to pay $420,288 in restitution to the IRS.

Did You Know?

Beatles guitarist George Harrison wrote the song Taxman in 1966 when the band’s earnings put them in a 95% tax bracket in the United Kingdom. The group was left with a nickel for every dollar they earned.

Not Such A Minor Offense

New Yorker Mark Wolanyk pleaded guilty to tax evasion for a scheme that included his minor son.

Wolanyk opened a bank account in his son’s name in 2010 and listed himself as the custodian of the account. During the next three years, Wolanyk deposited more than $250,000 in the account, the majority of the funds coming from his business. During the same period, Wolanyk withdrew a similar amount from the account.

In 2011, while the IRS was attempting to collect taxes owed by Wolanyk, he submitted a Collection Information Statement for Wage Earner and Self-Employed individuals. He did not list the account held in his son’s name.

Wolanyk filed a false tax return in 2014, claiming a loss in income. Later that year, he amended his return and claimed $77,477 in gross income and $56,491 in total income. Neither return reported the $60,000 he had deposited in his son’s account from a real estate transaction that same year.

Wolanyk was sentenced to 12 months of home confinement, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $243,387 in restitution to the IRS.

M is for Marriage

This story is about a married couple, Mary and Paul. Mary kept asking her husband these questions, hoping he would finally have an answer.

“How did you get us into this financial mess?”
“We have our bills, how are we going to pay them?”
“What are we going to do now?”

Can you prevent IRS tax debt from affecting your marriage?

Continue reading here…

Question:

I own a small business, and we had to shut down due to the Pandemic. To keep afloat, I did not send the IRS my employee’s withholding (941) taxes for a few quarters. How much trouble am I in?

Answer:

Owing 941 payroll taxes is very different from owing personal income taxes. Not only can the IRS padlock the doors to your business, but they can also come after you, levy your bank accounts, confiscate your receivables, and seize your property. Scarier still is that it could turn into a criminal matter. Why? Because the money has already been deducted from your employee’s payroll checks, so it’s not your money, to begin with! The IRS will look at it as if you stole their money. Payroll tax delinquency is the IRS’s number one enforcement priority.

You need to get help from an experienced professional who deals with the IRS every day. The IRS and SBA have implemented special programs for business owners who have fallen behind on their payroll tax obligations. We can assess your situation and figure out the best way to protect you and take over all dealings with the IRS, so you don’t have to. Don’t let them take everything you’ve worked so hard for, call us today!

If you have a state or federal tax problem or just want to refer a friend, relative, or client, I’d love to hear from you. I provide a no-obligation, confidential consultation to help you solve your IRS problems.

Call us today, and let’s get to work solving your tax problem at 877.355.8010 or book your appointment online, https://meetme.so/SFSTax

877.355.8010
Jeffrey Schneider,
EA, CTRS, ACT-E NTPI Fellow
Email: info@thetaxreliefco.com
738A Colorado Ave
Stuart, FL 34994
www.thetaxreliefco.com

“A taxpayer received a strongly worded “second notice” that his taxes were overdue. Hastening to the collector’s office, he paid his bill, saying apologetically that he had overlooked the first notice.”Oh,” confided the collector with a smile, “we don’t send out first notices. We have found that the second notices are more effective.”
–Unknown Tax Comic