Corporate Matters: Covering Your Partner's Tax Tab
/A district court, affirming a bankruptcy court decision, recently held that a partner can be secondarily liable for a partnership's unpaid employment taxes and that the I.R.S. could proceed with collection without having commenced specific individual action against the partner.
Case History
In Pitts v. U.S., Wendy K. Pitts, a California resident, was a general partner of DIR Waterproofing (“DIR”), a California general partnership. On March 1, 2012, Pitts filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California. As of that date, DIR had unpaid Federal Insurance Contribution Act taxes and unpaid Federal Unemployment Tax Act taxes for various quarters in 2005, 2006, and 2007. It also had unpaid penalties.
Commencing in 2007, the I.R.S. recorded a number of tax liens naming DIR and Pitts as the taxpayers for the unpaid amounts. The I.R.S. identified Pitts as a DIR partner on the liens. At the time of the district court proceeding, the liens still encumbered the property of Pitts.
On June 21, 2007 and August 7, 2007, the I.R.S. issued Notices of Federal Taxes Due naming DIR as the taxpayer and Pitts as a partner.
As of the time of the summary judgment proceeding in June 2013, DIR still owed at least $114,859 in tax debt, plus unassessed interest. However, the I.R.S. never assessed DIR's taxes against Pitts or brought a judicial action against her.
