Opinion ID: 3059929
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Brown’s Lawsuit

Text: On March 13, 2008, Brown filed a pro se complaint against the United States, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, and various unknown government 2 The Internal Revenue Code requires employers to deduct from wages paid to their employees the employees’ share of Federal Insurance Contribution Act (“FICA”) taxes and the withholding tax on wages applicable to individual income taxes. 26 U.S.C. §§ 3102(a); 3402(a). “The withheld sums are commonly referred to as ‘trust fund taxes,’ reflecting the Code’s provision that such withholdings or collections are deemed to be a ‘special fund in trust for the United States.’” Slodov v. United States, 436 U.S. 238, 243, 98 S. Ct. 1778, 1783 (1978) (citing 26 U.S.C. § 7501). 3 On April 16, 2001, the IRS assessed against Brown a trust fund recovery penalty of $30,924.16 for the tax periods ending June 30, 1999 through June 30, 2000. On April 21, 2003, the IRS assessed against Brown two trust fund recovery penalties, one for $6,322.79 for the tax period ending December 31, 2000, and the other for $6,889.61 for the tax period ending March 31, 2001. The amounts assessed represented the trust fund portion of the unpaid federal payroll taxes of Safe-Deposit’s employees. 3 employees. Brown raised a number of constitutional and state-law tort claims, but the gravamen of her complaint was that the government “illegally assessed and collected” the trust fund recovery penalties “from . . . Brown instead of [SafeDeposit].” On May 19, 2008, the government filed a counterclaim “to reduce to judgment [Brown’s] outstanding federal tax liabilities.” The counterclaim alleged that Brown failed to pay over employee payroll taxes for the tax periods ending June 30, 2000; December 31, 2000; and March 31, 2001. The counterclaim alleged that the total amount due for those tax periods, as of May 19, 2008, was $45,118.55.