SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, April 15, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — An Ogden man has been sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison for failing to pay and account for trust fund taxes related to his four healthcare-related businesses in the Ogden area.
Daniel Fry, 46, pleaded guilty to the charges, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice, District of Utah.
According to the plea agreement, Fry owned and operated four businesses in the Ogden area: Burch Creek Homecare and Hospice LLC, which closed in 2015; Scrub World, which closed in 2018; Medical Billing Advantage LLC, and Country Niche LLC, both of which closed in 2020.
Fry was responsible for handling the payroll for the businesses, including issuing paychecks to employees and withholding Federal Insurance Contribution Act (FICA) employment taxes, the news release says.
“As a responsible party for each of these companies, Fry was required to collect, account for, and pay over the ‘trust fund taxes’ to the Internal Revenue Service on a quarterly basis. Fry was also responsible for paying over the employer portion of these trust fund taxes to the IRS,” the release states.
Fry withheld from employee paychecks and collected the trust fund taxes for the businesses, as required, from January 2013 to December 2016, and reported the trust fund tax withholdings of his businesses to the IRS.
“At the same time, however, he failed to pay over any of the trust fund taxes that the businesses owed to the IRS,” the release continues. “Fry further failed to pay to the IRS the employer portion of the trust fund taxes owed by his businesses. In total, from January 2013 to December 2016, Fry owed and willfully failed to pay over to the IRS $568,590 owed by the businesses.”
United States Attorney Andrea T. Martinez stated in the news release, “Failure to pay taxes is a serious crime. This case is proof that we will hold business owners accountable if they violate their duty to pay employment taxes to the United States Government.”
Albert Childress, Special Agent in Charge, IRS-Criminal Investigation, added, “This investigation and prosecution demonstrates the toll that willful violations of the United States tax laws takes on not only the system, but on the average taxpayer.
“Mr. Fry’s actions hurt the taxpayers from whom he took withholdings but never paid over, he also harmed competing businesses who followed the law.”
U.S. Attorney Andrea T. Martinez for the District of Utah made the announcement, the news release says. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys from the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah, and was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation.
