Employers who willfully fail to collect or pay over employment tax face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a steep fine. In a recent case, a Cincinnati, OH, restaurateur was arrested for that crime. According to court documents, from 2016 through 2018, the man withheld payroll taxes from his employees but failed to file quarterly tax returns and transmit the payroll tax to the IRS. As the “founder, owner and CEO” of the restaurant chain, the man was responsible for withholding and paying employment tax on behalf of employees. During the two-year period, it’s alleged that his company made hundreds of thousands of dollars of expenditures for his personal benefit.
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