Carrollton businessman sentenced to prison for failing to pay over $2.4 million in payroll taxes

CARROLLTON, Ga. — A 59-year-old Carrollton man learned his fate after he pleaded guilty to not paying millions in payroll taxes.

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Court records show that between 2012 and 2019, Barry Lee White, 59, of Carrollton owned and operated, at different times, two construction maintenance and electrical companies: I-Barr Construction, Inc. and T-Line Construction, LLC. 

White’s companies were required to withhold from employees’ gross pay Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA taxes, which included social security and medicare taxes, and federal income taxes. Together, these withheld taxes are referred to as “payroll taxes.”

According to the Department of Justice, from at least 2015 to 2018, White withheld more than $1.8 million in payroll taxes from his employees but failed to pay the taxes to the IRS. 

The 59-year-old was also required to pay a certain amount of social security and federal unemployment tax for the companies. But instead, failed to pay over $600,000 for the employer’s portion of the payroll taxes.

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White was sentenced to one year, and 10 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay 2,499,473.07 in restitution.

He pleaded guilty to the charges on May 7.

“Employment tax evasion is stealing from the government and the American taxpayer,” said Special Agent in Charge, Demetrius Hardeman.

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