Opinion ID: 1934980
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Failure to File

Text: The District Court found that the McAfees' liability to the IRS and the State of Maine for failure to file W-2 forms arose from Wright's failure to furnish the forms to them. We will not set aside a finding of fact by a trial court unless it is clearly erroneous. Morin Bldg. Prod. Co. v. Atlantic Design & Constr. Co., 615 A.2d 239, 241 (Me.1992). We must affirm the decision of the trial court if any credible evidence, and all justifiable inferences drawn from such evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, support the [decision]. Marquis v. Farm Family Mut. Ins. Co., 628 A.2d 644, 648 (Me.1993) ( quoting Redlon's, Inc. v. Gilman, Inc., 485 A.2d 661, 662 (Me. 1984)). Virginia McAfee's testimony, though tentative at times, reveals that she did receive the W-2 forms for 1988. When first asked if she remembered receiving them from Wright, she stated that she could not answer that question because she had no idea. Nor did she know if her employees were given their copies of the forms in January of 1989. In subsequent testimony, however, McAfee stated with certainty that she had received the forms but that she remembered that they had come in late. A former employee of McAfee testified, however, that she had received her W-2 form for her 1988 wages in January of 1989. Contrary to the finding of the District Court, we find that the evidence compels the conclusion that the McAfees received their W-2 forms from Wright if not in January of 1989, then shortly thereafter. It is important to distinguish between Wright's obligation to prepare and furnish the W-2 forms to the McAfees and the McAfees' responsibility to file copies with the IRS and the State of Maine. Once the McAfees received the W-2 forms from Wright it was their responsibility to file copies with the authorities. The court thus erred in holding Wright responsible for a tentative penalty [2] of $4,249 assessed against the McAfees in October 1991 for their continuing failure to file the forms.