Business Owner Sentenced For Failure To Pay Withholding Taxes

MINNEAPOLIS –Yesterday in federal court, an owner of ATT Home Health Care, Inc., which provided general household services to clients, was sentenced for failing to account for and pay over to the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) federal income taxes and FICA contributions withheld from employee paychecks. On March 11, 2013, United States District Court Judge David S. Doty sentenced Tony Nghia Nguyen to five years of probation and 30 days home detention on one count of failure to account for and pay over withheld taxes. Nguyen was indicted on August 1, 2011, and pleaded guilty on August 1, 2012.

In his plea agreement, Nguyen admitted that from July 1, 2006, through June 30, 2007, he failed to provide the IRS with the taxes withheld from employee pay or file the required tax forms, even though he was responsible for doing so. Those taxes included federal income taxes as well as FICA contributions, made up of social security or Medicare payments. As a result of Nguyen’s actions, the federal government, through the IRS, lost well in excess of $287,000 in income taxes and FICA payments due.

This case was the result of an investigation by the IRS Criminal Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benjamin F. Langner and Robert M. Lewis.

Per U.S. Department of Justice policy, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is not allowed to provide the age and city of residence for defendants charged in criminal tax cases.