Owner of a long-term care facility in Georgia enters a guilty plea to attempting to obstruct the IRS

Today, a Georgian man entered a guilty plea to trying to prevent the IRS from collecting employment taxes and accompanying penalties.

According to court records and testimony given in court, Douglas K. Mittleider of Adairsville, Georgia, operated long-term care facilities across the country starting in 2003 and was in charge of paying the IRS the federal income tax withheld from employees’ paychecks as well as Social Security and Medicare taxes. The IRS levied the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty, also known as the Employment Taxes Mittleider Had Not Paid, against him personally in June 2004.

Mittleider took many actions to hide business funds and prevent the IRS from collecting his unpaid taxes starting at least in November 2011. Mittleider, among other things, ordered the mixing of money across the companies he owned and used money for things other than paying the IRS. Mittleider also made it more challenging for the IRS to find assets and levy accounts by causing the creation of new operating organizations and bank accounts. In total, Mittleider’s actions cost the IRS more than $9.5 million in lost tax revenue.

On December 4, Mittleider is due to get a sentence. He could be sentenced to three years in prison, followed by a period of supervised release, fines, and reparations. After taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other legal considerations, a federal district court judge will decide on any sentence.

The declaration was made by Tax Division Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department.The situation is being investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation.
The lawsuit is being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Sean Beaty and Trial Attorneys Ashley Stein and Andres Chinchilla of the Tax Division.