A California man pleaded guilty to failing to pay over employment taxes withheld from the wages of his company’s employees. According to court documents and statements made in court, Shane Brightpath Mike owned and was the president and chief operating officer of Excel Behavioral Services Inc., a business located in Campbell, California, that provided home care to persons with disabilities. Mike was responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare and income taxes from his employees’ wages and paying those funds to the IRS. For the fourth quarter of 2014 through the third quarter of 2015, Mike did not pay any of the withheld taxes to the IRS. And for the third quarter of 2014, Mike only paid part of the funds withheld. In total, Mike did not pay more than $1 million in taxes to the IRS during these five quarters. During the same time, Mike used Excel’s funds to pay his personal expenses. Mike also filed false personal income tax returns for tax years 2014 and 2015. On those returns, Mike falsely claimed credit for federal tax withholdings from wages he received from Excel, knowing that such had not been paid over to the IRS. In total, Mike caused a tax loss to the IRS of $1,177,947.
