A company can be held responsible for tax evasion even though the accountant it hired was indeed not an accountant and had filed fraudulent tax returns on the company’s behalf without its knowledge, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled.
Finding that Manzoor Beg’s fraud made City Wide Transit Inc. ineligible to claim the statute of limitations had expired on its payroll tax debt, the circuit said City Wide could be held liable for seven quarters of employment taxes dating as far back as 1997.
