Owner of North Carolina Automotive Business Sentenced for Failing to Pay Over $2 Million in Employment Taxes

A North Carolina man was sentenced today to one year and one day in prison for failing to pay more than $2 million in employment taxes, causing significant tax losses to the IRS.

According to court documents and statements made in court, George Taylor Jr., of Wilmington, North Carolina, owned and operated National Speed, a high-performance automotive services business. As chairman and president, Taylor was responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes from employees’ wages and paying those taxes to the IRS. However, from 2014 through 2021, Taylor withheld the required taxes but failed to remit them to the IRS or file the necessary employment tax returns.

Taylor executed the scheme using accounting software to calculate the taxes to be withheld from employees’ paychecks. After withholding the funds, he kept the money for himself and his business ventures instead of paying the IRS. This resulted in a total tax loss of $2,272,072.

In addition to serving one year and one day in prison, U.S. District Judge Richard Myers II for the Eastern District of North Carolina sentenced Taylor to three years of supervised release. Taylor was also ordered to pay $2,615,534 in restitution to the United States.

The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation. 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 made the announcement.

The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Brian Flanagan of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Ontjes for the Eastern District of North Carolina.