A former trucking company owner was sentenced to federal prison for failing to forward taxes withheld from employee paychecks to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for years.
On January 20, 2022, Jesup, Iowa, resident Mark Warm, 57, was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison in a United States District Court in Cedar Rapids. He was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $1,406,561.66 in restitution to the IRS.
Warm pleaded guilty in September 2, 2021, to a single count of willful failure to pay over employment taxes to the IRS.
Warm is the former owner of Warm Trucking, Incorporated.
Authorities say that during his plea agreement, Warm admitted that for seven years, he failed to forward income taxes and Federal Insurance Contributions Act (“FICA”) taxes from the pay of Warm Trucking employees to the IRS even though he knew he was required to do so.
Warm also admitted to failing to pay other taxes owed by his company to the IRS.
In total, Warm allegedly failed to pay the IRS more that $1.4 million in taxes over the course of seven years.
“Mr. Warm’s failure to pay employment taxes for seven years was an attempt to dodge his obligations to his employees and to the United States,” said United States Attorney Sean Berry. “Our system and our citizens depend upon employers like Mr. Warm to pay what they owe in employment taxes. This sentence shows that willfully failing to do so is a crime and there will be consequences.”
“Today’s sentencing sends a message that paying both individual and business taxes is an obligation you will be held to. When Mr. Warm made the decision to evade paying his employment taxes, he made a conscious decision to cheat his employees and all law abiding tax-payers,” said IRS-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge, Tyler Hatcher of the St. Louis Field Office. “As the 2022 tax season gets underway, IRS-CI wants it to be clear that, along with the Department of Justice, we will investigate and hold accountable those who cheat our tax system and cause harm to others.”
Warm was released on bond and is set to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on a yet-unscheduled date.