Smith County lawyer sentenced for tax violations

TYLER — A Tyler attorney has been sentenced to prison for federal employment tax violations. John Bennett White IV, 61, pleaded guilty on Feb. 1, 2021, to failure to pay employment taxes and was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison Wednesday by U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker. According to court documents and statements made in court, White was an attorney and firm manager for a Tyler law firm, J. Bennett White, P.C., where White had significant control over the finances of the firm and had a duty to account for and pay over the employment taxes on behalf of the firm’s employees to the IRS.

Between the second quarter of 2007 and the fourth quarter of 2015, White made sporadic and partial efforts to pay his firm’s employment tax liabilities. For multiple quarters during the same period White caused employment taxes to be withheld from the law firm’s employees’ wages, but willfully failed to fully pay those trust fund taxes of to the IRS. White made partial payments on 10 occasions and no payment for seven quarters. In total, White caused a tax loss of over $300,000. Instead of paying employment taxes, White paid other creditors and his own personal expenses.