A North Carolina resident, George Taylor Jr., has been sentenced to one year and one day in prison for failing to pay over $2 million in employment taxes. The sentencing took place today.
Taylor, who hails from Wilmington, North Carolina, was the owner and operator of National Speed, a business specializing in high-performance automotive services. In his role as chairman and president of National Speed, Taylor was tasked with withholding Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes from his employees' wages. However, court documents reveal that between 2014 and 2021, he withheld these taxes but did not remit them to the IRS or file the required tax returns. Instead, he used accounting software to calculate the withheld taxes but retained the funds for personal use and business activities.
This misconduct resulted in a tax loss to the IRS amounting to $2,272,072.
U.S. District Judge Richard Myers II for the Eastern District of North Carolina also sentenced Taylor to three years of supervised release following his prison term. Additionally, Taylor is required to pay approximately $2,615,534 in restitution to the United States.
The announcement was made by Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Michael F. Easley Jr. for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
The investigation into this case was conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation.
The prosecution team included Trial Attorney Brian Flanagan of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Ontjes for the Eastern District of North Carolina.