When an employer withholds Social Security and income taxes from an employee, those funds are the property of the government, and the employer must hold those funds in “trust” until the funds are turned over to the government. Failure to do so could lead to the so-called trust fund penalty, which is equal to 100% of the withholding from the employees’ wages. The penalty applies to any willful failure to collect, account for and pay over Social Security and income taxes required to be withheld from employee wages.

A recent report issued by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has made recommendations to the IRS for timely assessing and collecting the responsible person penalty, and the IRS is adopting the recommendations. The government has always been very aggressive about collecting trust fund Read More