The “Trust Fund” Trap: Payroll Tax Dangers for San Bernardino Warehouses

The logistics boom in San Bernardino has created a massive demand for flexible labor. Warehouse operators in Redlands, Fontana, and Ontario frequently rely on a mix of full-time staff, temporary agency workers, and independent contractors to keep the supply chain moving. While this flexibility is great for business, it creates a payroll tax minefield.

The IRS and the California Employment Development Department (EDD) are aggressively auditing this sector. Their primary target? Unpaid Trust Fund Taxes.

What Are Trust Fund Taxes?

When you pay an employee, you withhold money for Social Security, Medicare, and Income Tax. This money does not belong to your business; it belongs to the government. You are merely holding it in “trust.”

If your business falls on hard times and you use this money to pay vendors or rent instead of the IRS, you have committed a serious offense. The IRS does not view this as a business debt; they view it as theft.

The Trust Fund Recovery Penalty (TFRP)

This is the most dangerous penalty in the tax code. If a corporation fails to pay its payroll taxes, the IRS can “pierce the corporate veil” and assess the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty against individuals.

This means you, the owner, the CFO, or even the HR manager can be held personally liable for 100% of the unpaid trust fund taxes. Bankruptcy does not discharge this debt. The IRS can seize your personal home, your 401(k), and your personal bank accounts to satisfy a business payroll debt.

Common Audit Triggers in Warehousing

• The “Temp Agency” Scheme: You hire a staffing agency to provide labor. You pay the agency, assuming they are paying the payroll taxes. The agency disappears or fails to pay. The IRS may come after you as the “statutory employer” who controlled the wages.
• Worker Misclassification: The EDD frequently raids warehouses to interview workers. If they find workers treated as contractors who follow set hours and use your equipment, they will reclassify them as employees, triggering massive back-tax assessments.

How Kugelman Law Defends You

If an IRS Revenue Officer contacts you asking for a “4180 Interview,” do not answer questions. They are trying to establish that you were “willful” and “responsible” for the non-payment.

We intervene to:

1. Protect Your Personal Assets: We fight to keep the liability attached to the business entity, not you personally.
2. Negotiate Installment Agreements: We can structure an In-Business Trust Fund Express Installment Agreement (IB-TF-Express) that allows the business to stay open while paying off the arrears.
3. Vet Third-Party Payers: We help you implement compliance checks for your staffing agencies to ensure you aren’t liable for their fraud.

Payroll tax problems escalate faster than any other tax issue. Contact Kugelman Law, San Bernardino’s tax defense experts immediately.