Northern Virginia Business Owner Pleads Guilty to Failing to Pay Employment Taxes
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – James Miller, 67, of Lorton, Va., pleaded guilty today to willful failure to collect, account for and pay over withholdings from employees’ paychecks to the Internal Revenue Service.
Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; John A. DiCicco, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Tax Division; and Jeannine A. Hammett, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Washington, D.C. Field Office, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States District Judge T.S. Ellis, III. Miller faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison when he is sentenced on Nov. 18, 2011.
According to a statement of facts filed with his plea agreement, Miller served as the President and C.E.O. of Team, Inc. (“Team”), a janitorial company located in the Eastern District of Virginia from 1997 through 2008. Due to the positions he held at Team, he had a duty to collect, account for, and pay over federal taxes withheld by Team. Beginning with at least the third quarter of 2005 and continuing through the fourth quarter of 2008, Team withheld federal taxes from Team’s employees’ paychecks, including Federal Insurance Contribution Act (FICA) taxes but Miller willfully and knowingly failed to pay over any of the federal taxes withheld. As a result of Miller’s conduct, the total federal tax loss was at least $400,000.
This case was investigated by the IRS-CI. Assistant United States Attorney Jasmine Yoon and Trial Attorney Thomas J. Krepp from the Department of Justice’s Tax Division are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.
