NASCAR is getting added attention this weekend, but not because of an auto race. Major League Baseball will play a game tomorrow, Saturday, Aug. 2, at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The steeply banked Bristol racetrack, nicknamed The World's Fastest Half-Mile, is celebrated by auto racing fans who enjoy the close and exciting racing the venue creates. Now the baseball matchup between the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves in a baseball diamond created in the Tennessee short track’s infield, gives the track another historic event.
The so-called MLB Speedway Classic is the first-ever top-tier professional baseball game played in the Volunteer State. The sale of more than 85,000 tickets to the game also set an MLB regular-season record.
The MLB game might be a bit too tame for old-school NASCAR fans. Many of them relish their sport’s outlaw reputation, which is burnished by “just a racin’ deal” incidents in places like Bristol.
But being an outlaw off track can be costly, as one former NASCAR team owner has learned.
Nonpayment of payroll taxes plea: Ronald Devine of Burke, Virginia, pleaded guilty before a U.S. federal court judge in Charlotte, North Carolina, to failure to pay federal payroll taxes.
The 68-year-old Devine was the owner and president of BK Racing, which operated a NASCAR racing team and owned two NASCAR charters. Court documents, along with information released by the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with Devine’s indictment and guilty plea, show that Devine controlled BK's financial affairs, including authorizing the filing and payment of its trust fund taxes.
Payroll taxes are withheld from employees’ gross pay for income tax and to fund Social Security and Medicare. Employers are also required to make contributions to trust fund taxes matching the amounts withheld from their employees’ pay, and to file and pay quarterly taxes.
Court records show that beginning in 2012, BK Racing failed to account for and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in payroll taxes. Instead, between 2012 and 2017, Devine transferred more than $2 million to other businesses and entities that he owned and controlled, and used some of the funds to pay for BK Racing’s expenses.
“I hadn’t done a payroll in 40 years in business,” Devine told the Charlotte Observer. “But, as the owner, I was the responsible party. I thought it was in the best interests of me and my family (to plead guilty) and move on. I felt it was the right thing to do. I want to get this behind me.”
Devine was released on bond following his guilty plea.
A sentencing date has not been set. When that happens, Devine could face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for failing to truthfully account for and pay the U.S. Treasury trust fund taxes.
Investigators in the Devine payroll tax case included Donald “Trey” Eakins, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Charlotte Field Office; James C. Barnacle, Jr., Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division; and Rodney Hopkins, Inspector in Charge of the Atlanta Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which oversees Charlotte.
Tax Felon Friday: Payroll tax transgressions are a common problem for the Internal Revenue Service and its investigators.
Sometimes, employers are unaware of their duties. Other times, they intentionally fail to pay the taxes and use the funds for other purposes. Either way, it’s a tax crime.
You can read about prior payroll tax criminal charges in my earlier posts FinCEN, IRS-CI take steps to stem construction industry payroll tax fraud and Oregon man gets jail time, $30 million IRS bill for employment tax evasion scheme.
If you want to catch up on all sorts of tax miscreants, the ol' blogs' special Tax Felon Friday page is a good place to start.
You also can find tax crime posts, notably those that were published long before I gave them a special end-of-week feature moniker, in where else, the ol’ blog’s tax crimes category. You'll find this post at the top of that collection right now, so just scroll down for more.
You also might find these items of interest:
- Payroll taxes: who pays, how much and how if self-employed
- Social Security and Medicare trustees issue gloomier outlook for programs' funds
- Tax fraud committed by both ghost employees and ghost employers is scary and costly
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