26 Truckers Thought Their Taxes Were Paid. Prosecutors Say the Money Never Reached the IRS

26 Truckers Thought Their Taxes Were Paid. Prosecutors Say the Money Never Reached the IRS

At least 26 people, most of them self-employed truck drivers, allegedly gave a Georgia tax preparation company money they believed would be sent to the IRS. Federal prosecutors say some of those payments never made it there.

Diane Marie Poe, 62, of Loganville, Georgia, owner of Genuine Financial Services, has been charged in a 54-count federal indictment involving allegations of bank fraud, tax offenses and federal program theft.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Georgia, Genuine Financial Services provided bookkeeping, payroll services and tax preparation, with much of its business coming from people in the trucking industry. Many clients reportedly found the company through word of mouth.

Truck Drivers Allegedly Gave the Company Money for Taxes

According to the indictment, clients gave Genuine Financial Services money that was supposed to cover estimated payroll or trust fund taxes.

Federal prosecutors allege Poe accepted those payments but, in some cases, did not send the money to the IRS. She is also accused of accepting payments for tax and filing services that were not provided.

For an owner-operator, the situation can be especially damaging because the money may already have been taken out of the business and set aside specifically for taxes.

A driver may earn the money, reserve thousands of dollars for taxes and hand those funds to someone trusted to handle the paperwork. As far as the driver knows, the tax bill has been paid.

But if that payment never reaches the IRS, the government's records do not show a payment simply because the money was already given to somebody else.

That can leave a trucker facing both a financial problem and a paperwork problem at the same time.

Indictment Includes 54 Federal Charges

The federal indictment includes:

• 32 counts of bank fraud
• 14 counts of failure to account for and pay over withholding and FICA taxes
• 4 counts of failure to file a corporate tax return
• 2 counts of making and subscribing a false return
• 2 counts of federal program theft

The bank fraud counts alone carry a maximum possible sentence of 30 years per count. Federal program theft carries up to 10 years per count, while the tax-related charges carry additional potential penalties.

Those are maximum statutory penalties, not a prediction of what sentence would actually be imposed if there were a conviction.

Poe has been charged, but the allegations have not been proven in court. She is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Why the Trucking Connection Matters

Federal prosecutors said Genuine Financial Services provided services mostly to people employed in the trucking industry, and that the alleged victims were primarily self-employed truck drivers.

That makes the case particularly relevant to owner-operators, who routinely depend on outside companies to handle important parts of their businesses.

Factoring companies handle invoices. Insurance companies protect operating authority. ELD providers maintain records that can affect compliance. Accountants and tax preparers may be trusted with thousands, or even tens of thousands, of dollars that ultimately belong to the government.

In many small trucking businesses, the relationship with a tax preparer can operate largely on trust.

Paying a Tax Preparer Is Not the Same as Paying the IRS

One of the biggest lessons from the allegations is the importance of independently confirming that tax payments were actually received.

If a trucker gives a tax preparer $8,000 and is told the estimated taxes were paid, the driver should be able to independently verify that the IRS received the $8,000.

The same principle applies whether the payment is $2,000, $20,000 or $50,000.

A text message, invoice or verbal confirmation saying, "You're good," is not the same as confirmation from the government that the payment was received.

• Keep your own payment records.
• Know which tax period each payment applies to.
• Keep confirmation numbers for electronic payments.
• Periodically check your IRS account or official tax transcripts.
• Make sure the government's records match your own books.

That does not mean every accountant should be treated with suspicion.

It means that when thousands of dollars are moving through a trucking business, verification is part of running the business.

Word of Mouth Is Not Verification

Prosecutors said many of Genuine Financial Services' trucking clients came through word of mouth.

That is common in trucking, where drivers frequently recommend mechanics, insurance agents, dispatchers, accountants and other service providers to one another.

"Call my insurance guy."

"Use my mechanic."

"My dispatcher knows somebody."

"This accountant does everybody's trucking taxes."

A recommendation can help a trucker find someone, but it does not replace checking the person's work.

Even if 20 other truckers use the same tax preparer, that does not automatically guarantee that every payment or filing has been handled correctly.

What Potentially Affected Drivers Can Do

Federal authorities say anyone who used Genuine Financial Services or Diane Marie Poe for tax services and believes they may have been a victim can contact FBI Atlanta at 770-216-3000.

The FBI and IRS are investigating the case.

For truckers who were not involved with Genuine Financial Services, the case still raises a practical question:

If your accountant told you your taxes were paid today, could you independently prove that the IRS received the money?

If the answer is no, that may be something worth fixing.

A tax bill is already expensive enough. Paying the money once and later discovering that it may never have reached the IRS is a situation no owner-operator wants to experience.

Source: WSB-TV and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Georgia.