Erwin v. Coggin, No. 08-1564

District court's imposition of personal liability on defendant for payroll withholding taxes owed by a company, where he owned a one-third interest and served as its corporate officer and director and conducted various business transactions on its behalf, is affirmed where: 1) defendant's own admissions demonstrate, as a matter of law, that he was a responsible person under 26 U.S.C. section 6672 during the relevant tax periods; and 2) the record demonstrates that the company generated several million dollars in gross receipts after the relevant period and paid rent and food vendors with those funds instead of paying the IRS, and thus, by preferring its other creditors to the IRS, defendant willfully failed to remit the company's payroll taxes for the fourth quarter of 1998 and the first three quarters of 1999.   

Read Erwin v. Coggin, No. 08-1564

Appellate Information

Argued: September 23, 2009

Decided: January 13, 2010

Judges

Opinion by Circuit Judge Motz

Counsel

For Appellant:   Emma Claire Merritt, Tuggle Duggines & Meschan, PA

For Appellee:   Christine Durney Mason, US Department of Justice