WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – Wilmington businessman George William Taylor Jr., who is the former owner of TRU Colors, pled guilty Thursday, Aug. 22, on charges related to not paying over $2 million in employment taxes and not filing employment tax returns while owning and operating National Speed, according to the Office of United States Attorney Michael Easley Jr.
National Speed, which operates in Wilmington and Richmond, Virginia, offers automotive performance upgrade services, according to its website.
Per the announcement, Taylor Jr., who served as the chairman and president of National Speed, “was responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes from employees’ wages and paying those taxes to the IRS. From 2014 through 2021, Taylor withheld the taxes, but did not pay those withholdings over to the IRS, nor did he file the necessary employment tax returns. During the same period, he also did not pay the employer’s share of those taxes to the IRS.”
Taylor caused a tax loss to the IRS of $2,272,072. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 19, where he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
According to the order setting conditions of release court document, Taylor must also surrender his passport.
“He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors,” the release adds.
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