A Texas woman will serve a year and a day in federal prison after withholding more than $1.3 million in employment taxes from her staff and using the money for herself.
Donna M. Savoy, of Parker, Texas, was sentenced today for willfully failing to pay over those taxes on behalf of Donna Beth Creations, a bridal studio she owned and operated in Denver, Colorado, for more than a decade.
According to court documents, Savoy was legally responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes from her employees’ wages. Her duties also required her to file quarterly employment tax returns and pay the withheld funds directly to the IRS.
Instead, from the first quarter of 2014 through the fourth quarter of 2024, Savoy admitted that she kept the money. While she successfully withheld the taxes from her employees’ paychecks, she never sent the funds to the IRS and failed to file any quarterly employment tax returns during that entire ten-year period.
Court records show she spent the withheld tax money on her own personal and business expenses, causing a total loss to the United States government exceeding $1.3 million.
Savoy pleaded guilty to one count of willful failure to account for and pay over trust fund taxes.
The investigation was conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation. Trial Attorney Stuart A. Wexler of the Criminal Division’s Tax Section prosecuted the case, and the sentencing was announced by Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division.
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