Jackson County man pleads guilty to federal tax crimes

Date: Nov. 5, 2024

Contact: [email protected]

VCharleston, WV - Joshua L. Wolfe of Givens, pleaded guilty today to two counts of failure to pay a tax and failure to file an income tax return.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Wolfe admitted that the failed to pay approximately $20,000 in taxes withheld from the gross pay of employees of his business, Wolfe Construction Company Inc., due on April 30, 2019. Wolfe also did not file an individual income tax return for calendar year 2018. Wolfe admitted that he drew a salary of approximately $75,000 from Wolfe Construction and transferred approximately $50,000 from his business accounts to his personal accounts that year.

Wolfe was president, sole officer and 50 percent shareholder of Wolfe Construction from 2015 to 2020 and became the sole owner of the commercial construction business in September 2020. Wolfe admitted that he did not pay all of Wolfe Construction's employment taxes for many quarters from 2017 and 2019, after withholding taxes from the gross pay of his employees. Wolfe Construction generally had 11 to 15 employees during this time period.

Wolfe was also the sole owner of the Barge Restaurant, which he opened in 2017 in Charleston. Wolfe admitted that he often failed to pay the full amount of employment taxes he withheld from the gross pay of Barge Restaurant employees from 2017 to 2019. The Barge Restaurant generally had at least 10 employees during this time period.

Wolfe also admitted that he claimed and received a refund on his 2017 individual income tax return after reporting employment taxes withheld from his 2017 Wolfe Construction salary as "payment." Wolfe further admitted that he did not file an individual income tax return for calendar year 2019 even though he knew his salary from Wolfe Construction alone exceeded the minimum requirement for filing.

Wolfe is scheduled to be sentenced on January 14, 2025, and faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison, up to two years of supervised release, and a $200,000 fine. Wolfe also owes restitution in an amount to be determined by the Court.

United States Attorney Will Thompson made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI).

United States Magistrate Judge Dwane L. Tinsley presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Andrew D. Isabell and Trial Attorneys Brian Flanagan and Rebecca Caruso of the Department of Justice Criminal Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

IRS-CI is the criminal investigative 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. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.