HARRISBURG — The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Nicholas A. Long, age 30, of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on March 8, 2018, to one year and one day in prison and three years’ supervised release by United States District Court Judge Sylvia H. Rambo for willful failure to pay federal payroll taxes.
According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, Long pleaded guilty in October 2017, to an information charging him with the willful failure to pay federal payroll taxes owed by his business, Harrisburg Commercial Interiors, LLC during 2013.
An Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigation revealed that Long, through his solely owned commercial drywall business, Harrisburg Commercial Interior, LLC (HCI), willfully did not pay $216,304 in payroll taxes during 2013 and 2014. The IRS investigation began when several HCI employees contacted the IRS because they did not receive their 2013 income tax refunds.
As the owner of HCI, Long exercised primary control over the financial affairs of the business, was solely responsible for issuance of all paychecks, and had sole signature authority on HCI’s business bank account. Although he issued payroll checks totaling $730,788 in gross wages during 2013 and 2014, Long did not file the requisite Employer’s Quarterly and Annual Federal Tax Returns, Forms and 940, with the IRS, nor pay over the $160,399 he withheld from his employees’ pay checks to the government.
Judge Rambo also ordered Long to make full restitution in the amount of $216,304. Long made $140,000 in payments prior to his sentencing leaving $76,304 owed.
“Business owners like Mr. Long have a responsibility to withhold income taxes for their employees and then remit those taxes to the IRS,” stated Ed Wirth, Acting Special Agent in Charge. “The failure to do so is a crime, and the Special Agents of IRS Criminal Investigation will continue to vigorously pursue action against those who commit these types of offenses.”
The case was investigated by the Harrisburg Office of the IRS Criminal Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kim Douglas Daniel.
Source: United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
