Oklahoma tax lawyer, Travis Watkins, warns business owners to take immediate action.

Travis W. Watkins Tax Resolution & Accounting Firm has helped many Oklahoma businesses reach success with payroll tax problems.

The new and improved IRS is actively seeking convictions against taxpayers guilty of payroll tax violations. During the year 2018, the IRS criminally charged and convicted a growing number of business owners for stealing payroll employment taxes.

Business owners are required to withhold payroll taxes from employees' wages and they have a “fiduciary” responsibility to pay the amounts withheld over to the IRS. The IRS takes a hard look at any business that gets behind in paying payroll taxes.

Some business owners may at least have a semi-reasonable excuse for not paying payroll taxes over to the IRS when they are due. These excuses could include a catastrophic event, medical emergency, employee theft, large customer bankruptcy, or other unusual circumstances. The IRS is not actively looking to criminally prosecute business owners who get behind in their payroll taxes for reasons such as these. However, the IRS will still hold business owners personally liable for a portion of the business payroll taxes.

In 2018, the IRS investigated 207 business owners, indicted 67 and jailed 77% of them for an average sentencing time of 21 months.

Business owners who take immediate action to remedy these situations before IRS agents show up at the business door will always be in better shape to save their business and their personal freedom. The IRS' Criminal Investigations Annual Report says of employment tax problems, “Employment tax fraud takes many forms. Some of the most common forms include employee leasing, paying employees cash, filing payroll tax returns, and failing to file when a business withholds taxes from their employees' paychecks and use the funds for their personal expenses.”

Of course, the simple solution to solving any payroll tax problem is to pay the IRS the amount owed immediately. Unfortunately, not all business owners have the money to do this. In those situations, the business owner must, at the very least, start paying what they owe for the current month and create a plan to repay the old payroll taxes. I've written a special report on how to best end payroll tax problems and I'll be happy to give you a free copy.

Caution! Often business owners faced with a payroll tax problem freeze like a deer in headlights and do nothing. This is the worst thing you can do! Instead, acknowledge you have a serious payroll problem and immediately start moving forward to solve it. Do not wait for an IRS agent to stick a badge in your face to wake you up.

Travis Watkins is an Oklahoma Tax Attorney who limits his practice to helping taxpayers end IRS problems. In 2018, his firm, Travis W. Watkins Tax Resolution & Accounting Firm was awarded The Oklahoman''s Reader's Choice Award for Best Taxation Firm, Mr. Watkins has earned the designation Certified Tax Resolution Specialist from the American Society of Tax Problem Solvers, a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping taxpayers solve IRS problems. As a special offer, you can get the referenced Special Report, "Small Business Owners: How You Can-and Must-Protect Your Business From The IRS If You Have Payroll Tax Problems" by calling 405-454-8373 or 918-347-1393.