March 22, 2017

A Houston, Texas business owner pleaded guilty to one count of failing to pay over employment taxes, announced the Justice Department’s Tax Division. According to documents filed with the court, Richard Floyd Tatum Jr., 57, owned Associated Marine & Industrial Staffing Inc. (AMI), an industrial staffing company that provided temporary labor to businesses in Texas and other states. Tatum employed approximately 1,000 people to include internal employees, who worked for AMI, and external employees, who AMI assigned to work on-site at client locations. Tatum was responsible for collecting, accounting for and paying over to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) the payroll taxes withheld from AMI’s employees’ wages. Tatum exercised significant control over AMI’s finances to include entering into contracts, signing checks, to include payroll, and deciding which creditors to pay. Tatum also signed and filed AMI’s employment tax returns. From March 2008 through December 2009, Tatum filed false and untimely employment tax returns for AMI that did not report AMI’s external employees. In May 2013, Tatum filed untimely returns for the quarters ending in March 2010 through December 2012, reporting AMI’s external employees but failing to make any payments. Tatum withheld approximately $12 million in payroll taxes from March 2008 through December 2012, which he did not pay over to the IRS. Tatum also failed to pay $6 million of AMI’s contributing share of social security and Medicare taxes during the same quarters. Instead, he used the money for his personal benefit, including making payments on his ranch and traveling to Las Vegas, Hawaii and France. Tatum admitted that he caused a tax loss of more than $18 million. DOJ

Tagged in: Employment Tax Fraud, Tax Fraud,