TAX PROTESTER IMPRISONED FOR REFUSAL TO OBEY COURT ORDER REQUIRING FILING OF DELINQUENT TAX RETURNS

Cencal Aviation Owner, Walter “Al” Thompson, Had Stopped Withholding Federal Taxes From Employees’ Wages

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department announced today that the U.S. Marshals Service has arrested Walter “Al” Thompson, of Shasta Lake, California. Thompson, owner of Cencal Sales Company and Cencal Aviation Products, was found in contempt of court on March 5, 2004, for failing to obey an order entered last September by Judge Frank C. Damrell, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. The March 5th order states that Thompson will be held in jail until he complies with the September order.

The September order, called a preliminary injunction, required Thompson to file delinquent federal employment tax returns, pay delinquent employment taxes, file delinquent Form W-2 wage statements, give his current and former employees copies of the preliminary injunction, and post the preliminary injunction at his business. The court found Thompson has failed to do any of these things. The IRS recently identified employment tax evasion as one of the “dirty dozen” abusive tax scams.

“The Justice Department is serious about stopping fraudulent tax schemes,” said Eileen J. O’Connor, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “In the interests of justice, it is appropriate that we ask courts to take strong measures to deal with those who violate court orders.”

More information on this case is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/txdv03498.htm.

More information about the Justice Department's Tax Division can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax.