Earlier this year, the First Circuit United States Court of Appeals issued its decision in United States v. Albania Deleon, 704 F.3d 189 (1st Cir., January 11, 2013). This case illustrates that worker misclassification may, in addition to the imposition of taxes and civil penalties, lead to criminal sanctions, including imprisonment.
Albania Deleon owned and operated two businesses: an asbestos abatement training school (“ECT”) and a temporary employment agency (“MSI”). This case focuses on Ms. Deleon and MSI. MSI supplied temporary workers to asbestos abatement contractors.
MSI maintained two separate payrolls for its workforce. One payroll reported a minority of the workers as employees, proper withholding of payroll and income taxes was done, and Form W-2s were issued to the employees. MSI reported in writing to both its customers (including governmental entities) and the occupational safety division of local government that it was responsible for and was complying with all employee withholding tax obligations.
The second payroll, which encompassed most of MSI’s workers, treated the workers as independent contractors—no withholding was done. Rather, IRS Form 1099s were issued to the workers. MSI told its accountants that these workers were independent contractors. Evidence in the trial record indicated Ms. Deleon had absolutely no factual basis for that conclusion.
In late 2006, as a result of an anonymous tip to the government that MSI was violating immigration laws and was involved in fraudulent payroll activity, state and federal investigators raided the offices of both companies. Based upon the information gathered in the raid, including computer records, the IRS concluded MSI had fraudulently avoided paying over $1,000,000 in payroll taxes.
Ms. Deleon, owner of both companies, was charged with several counts of:
-
- mail fraud;
- making false tax returns;
- procuring false tax returns; and
- conspiracy to violate multiple federal criminal laws.
After an eleven-day trial, Ms. Deleon was convicted on all counts. She is now serving 87 months in federal prison.
Ms. Deleon had no basis for her characterization of a majority of the workers as independent contractors. She simply reported them as independent contractors to reduce her tax liability. She told her customers and the government she was properly treating the workers as employees. Worker misclassification cost her 87 months behind bars.
This case illustrates worker misclassification can lead to more than simply a tax liability and civil penalties. If you are interested in reading more about worker classification, please click on the links below:
1. “The Affordable Care Act Creates A Trap For The Unwary– Worker Misclassification;“
2. “IRS Expands its Voluntary Worker Classification Settlement Program;” and
PrincipalLarry is Chair of the Foster Garvey Tax & Benefits practice group. He is licensed to practice in Oregon and Washington. Larry's practice focuses on assisting public and private companies, partnerships, and high-net-worth ...
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Larry J. Brant
Editor
Larry J. Brant is a Shareholder and the Chair of the Tax & Benefits practice group at Foster Garvey, a law firm based out of the Pacific Northwest, with offices in Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Washington, D.C.; New York, New York, Spokane, Washington; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Beijing, China. Mr. Brant is licensed to practice in Oregon and Washington. His practice focuses on tax, tax controversy and transactions. Mr. Brant is a past Chair of the Oregon State Bar Taxation Section. He was the long-term Chair of the Oregon Tax Institute, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Portland Tax Forum. Mr. Brant has served as an adjunct professor, teaching corporate taxation, at Northwestern School of Law, Lewis and Clark College. He is an Expert Contributor to Thomson Reuters Checkpoint Catalyst. Mr. Brant is a Fellow in the American College of Tax Counsel. He publishes articles on numerous income tax issues, including Taxation of S Corporations, Reasonable Compensation, Circular 230, Worker Classification, IRC § 1031 Exchanges, Choice of Entity, Entity Tax Classification, and State and Local Taxation. Mr. Brant is a frequent lecturer at local, regional and national tax and business conferences for CPAs and attorneys. He was the 2015 Recipient of the Oregon State Bar Tax Section Award of Merit.
