Orthodontist guilty of not paying tax

Withholding not sent to U.S.

8/27/2013

A Toledo orthodontist who deducted employment taxes from his employees’ paychecks but never paid them to the government pleaded guilty Tuesday to 14 counts of failure to pay over tax.

Stuart Duchon, 66, owes the Internal Revenue Service $187,117 in taxes withheld but not remitted, assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Karol told U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge James Knepp II.

He said prosecutors intend to seek that amount in restitution at Duchon’s sentencing, which was set for Dec. 30.

Mr. Karol told the court that, as an employer, Duchon was required to file and pay federal employment taxes quarterly but failed to do so from the third quarter of 2007 through the last quarter of 2010 for his orthodontic practices, known as Duchon Orthodontics-Toledo Inc. and Stuart L. Duchon DDS MS Inc.

Duchon took care of all the finances for his business, Mr. Karol said, and deliberately failed to remit the amounts withheld for Medicare, Social Security, and federal income taxes. He also failed to pay the employer share of Medicare and Social Security — about $75,562.

Financial records indicate that during that time period Duchon had about $500,000 in personal expenses for things ranging from travel and alimony to jewelry, Mr. Karol said.

“He had the wherewithal, we would have shown, that there was income he had, that he decided to forgo paying the Internal Revenue Service,” Mr. Karol said. “If we had gone to trial, we would have shown this is a long, long-term history of Dr. Duchon. This is not something that began in 2007.”

— Jennifer Feehan