North Carolina business owner sentenced to prison for employment tax crime

Date: July 16, 2026

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Charlotte, NC - A North Carolina woman was ordered to serve a year and a day in prison followed by two years of supervised release for her willful failure to account for and pay over almost $1 million in employment taxes on behalf of her business, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Brenda Wymer owned and operated Haven Home Care, Inc. (HHC), a North Wilkesboro, North Carolina company that provided home healthcare services. Wymer exercised control over HHC's business and financial affairs and was responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare, and federal income taxes from HHC's employees and paying over those funds to the IRS. The timely payment of these taxes is critical to the functioning of the U.S. government because, among other things, they are the primary source of funding for Social Security and Medicare. The federal income taxes that are withheld from employees' wages also account for a significant portion of all federal income taxes collected each year.

Between 2015 and 2024, Wymer caused HHC to withhold taxes from her employees' paychecks but did not file tax returns accounting for these withholdings and did not pay this money to the IRS. Instead, she kept those tax funds for herself and her business.

Wymer pleaded guilty to one count of willful failure to account for and pay over trust fund taxes. In total, Wymer caused a tax loss to the IRS of more than $973,000.

In addition to her prison sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Matthew E. Orso for the Western District of North Carolina ordered Wymer to pay $973,727.04 in restitution to the United States.

IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Daniel Lipkowitz of the Criminal Division's Tax Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Caryn Finley of the Western District of North Carolina are prosecuting the case.

IRS-CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. It is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS-CI has 18 field offices located across the U.S. and maintains an international presence through attaché posts abroad.