[US] Startup software firm CEO sentenced for $14m payroll tax fraud

In the US, a former startup software firm CEO has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for willfully failing to pay more than $14 million in payroll taxes and not filing personal tax returns, US Politics Today reports.

According to court documents and statements to the court, Andrew Park (49) of Bedford, New Hampshire, was the co-founder and CEO of a startup technology company with responsibility for all financial matters related to the company, including filing the company’s quarterly employment tax returns and collecting and paying over Social Security, Medicare and income taxes withheld from employees’ wages to the IRS, as well as the matching Social Security and Medicare taxes the company owed.

From the company’s founding in 2014 until the third quarter of 2021, Mr Park reportedly withheld federal taxes from the wages of the company’s employees but did not pay them over as required by law. In addition, he did not pay over the portion of the employment taxes that the company owed. Mr Park willfully failed to do so despite a payroll service company that he hired to process the employees’ payroll regularly notifying him that the taxes were due. 

In more than one instance Mr Park was notified by an employee that the amount paid to Social Security listed on her W-2 did not match the figure reported by the Social Security Administration.

From 2013 until 2020, Mr Park also reportedly failed to file individual tax returns as required by law, even though he paid himself a salary of approximately $250,000 each year. In total, he was found to have caused a tax loss to the IRS exceeding $14 million.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Chief Judge Landya B. McCafferty for the District of New Hampshire ordered Mr Park to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $639,821.78 in restitution and a fine of $15,000.

Source: US Politics Today

In the US, a former startup software firm CEO has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for willfully failing to pay more than $14 million in payroll taxes and not filing personal tax returns, US Politics Today reports.

According to court documents and statements to the court, Andrew Park (49) of Bedford, New Hampshire, was the co-founder and CEO of a startup technology company with responsibility for all financial matters related to the company, including filing the company’s quarterly employment tax returns and collecting and paying over Social Security, Medicare and income taxes withheld from employees’ wages to the IRS, as well as the matching Social Security and Medicare taxes the company owed.

From the company’s founding in 2014 until the third quarter of 2021, Mr Park reportedly withheld federal taxes from the wages of the company’s employees but did not pay them over as required by law. In addition, he did not pay over the portion of the employment taxes that the company owed. Mr Park willfully failed to do so despite a payroll service company that he hired to process the employees’ payroll regularly notifying him that the taxes were due. 

In more than one instance Mr Park was notified by an employee that the amount paid to Social Security listed on her W-2 did not match the figure reported by the Social Security Administration.

From 2013 until 2020, Mr Park also reportedly failed to file individual tax returns as required by law, even though he paid himself a salary of approximately $250,000 each year. In total, he was found to have caused a tax loss to the IRS exceeding $14 million.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Chief Judge Landya B. McCafferty for the District of New Hampshire ordered Mr Park to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $639,821.78 in restitution and a fine of $15,000.

Source: US Politics Today