Owner of Pinnacle Steel in Puyallup indicted for failing to pay over $1 million in taxes
The co-owner and financial manager of a Puyallup steel fabrication business was indicted Thursday in federal court for allegedly failing to pay the government more than $1 million in employment taxes, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington announced.
Donna Powell, 56, co-owns and operates Pinnacle Steel Fabricators, a company that makes steel parts and employs 15 to 20 people. The woman was indicted in U.S. District Court for nine counts of failing to pay employment taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.
The indictment alleges that between 2010 and 2018, Pinnacle Steel withheld about $1,167,891 in payroll taxes from employees’ paychecks but failed to pay those funds to the IRS. Powell was the company’s treasurer, secretary and accounting manger and was responsible for bookkeeping, payroll and accounts payable.
Instead, prosecutors say, Powell and her husband spent thousands of dollars during that time on vacations and gambling. According to the indictment, the couple spent $32,000 on vacations to Europe, Jamaica and Mexico City. They also spent $41,000 gambling at casinos in Washington and Reno, Nevada and $33,000 on online gambling.
“Failure to pay over the taxes ultimately hurts the employees whose earning records are incomplete for Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment benefits,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release. “Employees can report concerns about federal withholding to the IRS and records can be corrected with documentation.”
Powell was required by law to file forms with the IRS disclosing the amount of payroll taxes withheld from employees paychecks, according to the release. But prosecutors say she never filed those forms between 2010 and the first quarter of 2018.
This story was originally published February 10, 2022 at 2:07 PM.
