I've been in business for over 35 years. You mess around on FICA taxes and withholding when you are an employer, the men in dark suits will descend on you like the plagues of Egypt.
You do not welch on Uncle Sam's vig unless you are willing to suffer a mighty wrath...
You are correct.
If discovered, the IRS will jump on not just the owner(s,) but also any employee responsible for preparing/filing/paying 941s and the associated taxes. They, like an owner, are personally liable for any unpaid amounts. Oops.
There are a number of tax-protestor cases where the “bookkeeper” also found their butt in a sling because their idiot employer wanted to play games. See Simkanin. His bookkeeper only avoided liability by cooperating and testifying about the scheme. Simkanin? He died in federal prison.
Like you, I’ve signed and filed enough 941s to choke a couple of good-sized horses over the last 40 years. They are no joke.
Small amounts due? Monthly deposits. Pay up. Larger amounts? Essentially five business days. Pay up. You paid your employees, now pay us the withheld amounts you didn’t pay them. Don’t/can’t pay? We can and will attack every single asset you have. And almost nothing is exempt from that attack.
I used to run across small business people who thought it was a great way to float money for a while. A very bad idea. Pay your 941 taxes first, even before the rent on your business space.
If you’re operating as a corp or LLC, your landlord generally can’t sue you personally, but the IRS (via the DoJ) can and will. Most of those people wound up closing after the IRS figured out that they weren’t being paid and weren’t likely to be paid.
Hovind is a sort of tax-protestor — wrapped up in a bunch of religious hokus-pokus — but with even fewer active brain cells than most of that generally brain-dead group. His magic words don’t work any better than the legal incantations of the rest of the delusional TPs.
He reminds me of Irwin Schiff (three-time federal tax convict) who might die in federal prison. Irwin is 87 with a release date that will make him 89 or 90.
Or maybe he’ll get out at 90 and do something else stupid that will earn him his 4th stretch of federal prison time for tax offenses. Hey, I’ll be out when I’m 110! Keep fighting, tax patriots, never mind that my theories are total nonsense!
And Ed and Elaine Brown, both of whom are two-time federal tax convicts with nasty weapons charges for good measure and who will certainly die in federal prison. Ed is 72 with a release date making him age 102, Elaine is 74 with a release date making her age 101.
Their forfeited properties, which are nominally worth 500K+ can’t be sold at auction because nobody is dumb enough to bid on stuff that can’t be inspected and may have bombs and other stuff on them. The sort of stuff where it’s impossible to find someone willing to do demolition. Good move, Ed. Pure genius. Yeah, you won. Think about that as you rot in prison.
As Hovind contemplates his upcoming trial and any possible future trials, he might be well advised to remember that there is no federal parole — you serve 85% of the time if you behave and up to 100% if you don’t.
Of course, he already knows this from serving his current 10-year sentence. Yet, that hasn’t stopped him from acting on ways to pile up even more years.
The idiocy is truly astounding.