Here we go again:
Now I guess I'll be cast as a EX-employee of the Sheriff's Department.
It seems this will never end.
This is totally unacceptable ! This person is still employed at WCSO !
Walton sheriff's employees face IRS problems
Andy Meinen
Friday December 7th, 2007
NW Florida Daily News
DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — Most Walton County Sheriff's Office employees will have to file amended tax returns because the agency misreported payroll taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.
The Sheriff’s Office placed the blame on faulty accounting software and a former employee, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.
A message left for Capt. Eddie Farris on Friday afternoon was not immediately returned. Sheriff Ralph Johnson also was not available for comment.
Because of the error, the Sheriff’s Office underpaid the IRS about $150, and about 210 of the agency’s 287 employees must file amended tax returns, according to the news release.
Former Sheriff’s Office spokesman Dennis Wise said he got a notice from the IRS in October that stated he owed them about $1,000 from his 2005 tax return.
“I feel it’s purely incompetence,” he said. “For a person that is now on a fixed income, I don’t know where I’m going to come up with it.”
Wise said he thinks the Sheriff’s Office should pay the misreported amount.
He’s not alone.
Jeremy Rolling worked for the Sheriff’s Office for about five years. He left in early 2005 to join the public defender’s office.
Rolling also got a notice recently from the IRS stating that he owes about $160.
“It’s not our fault,” he said. “I don’t think we should have to pay it out of our own pocket.”
The Sheriff’s Office also attributed the trouble to “other problems within the Finance Department, in which ‘Generally Accepted Accounting Procedures’ were not followed,’ ” according to the news release.
The procedures have been modified to make sure the problem does not happen again, the release stated.
Johnson is negotiating with the IRS, which has not decided on a penalty for the Sheriff’s Office, according to the release.
This is not the first accounting error the Sheriff’s Office has faced. The agency had to pay more than $21,000 to the IRS in fiscal 2005 for late payments in 2003 and 2004.
Marjorie Adams worked in the finance department during that time. She said she unknowingly deposited payroll taxes late because she was new on the job.
Adams was also involved in an e-mail scam last summer that bilked the Sheriff’s Office out of about $16,000.
Now I guess I'll be cast as a EX-employee of the Sheriff's Department.
It seems this will never end.
This is totally unacceptable ! This person is still employed at WCSO !
Walton sheriff's employees face IRS problems
Andy Meinen
Friday December 7th, 2007
NW Florida Daily News
DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — Most Walton County Sheriff's Office employees will have to file amended tax returns because the agency misreported payroll taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.
The Sheriff’s Office placed the blame on faulty accounting software and a former employee, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.
A message left for Capt. Eddie Farris on Friday afternoon was not immediately returned. Sheriff Ralph Johnson also was not available for comment.
Because of the error, the Sheriff’s Office underpaid the IRS about $150, and about 210 of the agency’s 287 employees must file amended tax returns, according to the news release.
Former Sheriff’s Office spokesman Dennis Wise said he got a notice from the IRS in October that stated he owed them about $1,000 from his 2005 tax return.
“I feel it’s purely incompetence,” he said. “For a person that is now on a fixed income, I don’t know where I’m going to come up with it.”
Wise said he thinks the Sheriff’s Office should pay the misreported amount.
He’s not alone.
Jeremy Rolling worked for the Sheriff’s Office for about five years. He left in early 2005 to join the public defender’s office.
Rolling also got a notice recently from the IRS stating that he owes about $160.
“It’s not our fault,” he said. “I don’t think we should have to pay it out of our own pocket.”
The Sheriff’s Office also attributed the trouble to “other problems within the Finance Department, in which ‘Generally Accepted Accounting Procedures’ were not followed,’ ” according to the news release.
The procedures have been modified to make sure the problem does not happen again, the release stated.
Johnson is negotiating with the IRS, which has not decided on a penalty for the Sheriff’s Office, according to the release.
This is not the first accounting error the Sheriff’s Office has faced. The agency had to pay more than $21,000 to the IRS in fiscal 2005 for late payments in 2003 and 2004.
Marjorie Adams worked in the finance department during that time. She said she unknowingly deposited payroll taxes late because she was new on the job.
Adams was also involved in an e-mail scam last summer that bilked the Sheriff’s Office out of about $16,000.
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