The Internal Revenue Service filed tax liens four years ago against a local attorney who is running for state court judge in Gwinnett County, accusing him of owing more than $200,000 to the government.
The attorney, Lance Tyler, says the actual number is much, much less — and that the liens filed against him and his wife were a mistake to begin with, the result of an accountant’s clerical error.
“The reality is, just because the IRS says you owe something doesn’t mean you do,” Tyler said on Tuesday — Tax Day.
William Perry, the founder and director of Georgia Ethics Watchdogs, said he's often inclined to give elected officials or candidates a pass for personal financial issues. But he called Tyler's situation "troubling."
“I think most people expect a judge to exercise the best judgment as possible,” Perry said. “And you don’t expect them to get in this kind of situation. And you certainly expect them to have it taken care of before they offer themselves up for public office.”
According to documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News, the IRS filed a tax lien against Tyler and his wife, Marjorie, in 2014. It claimed they owed a total of $207,878.74 in unpaid taxes, a number that included unpaid balances of nearly $105,000 from 2010, more than $102,000 from 2011, and just shy of $500 from 2012.
Tyler is running against fellow attorney Ronda Colvin-Leary in May’s nonpartisan election to replace retiring Judge Joseph Iannazzone. Tuesday, he said that the hefty sum still listed on IRS documents is misleading. He said the actual amount he and his wife now owe is somewhere around $30,000 and that they have negotiated a payment plan.
The AJC was unable to independently verify that information on Tuesday.
Tyler said the original lien was the result of the couple’s personal accountant classifying his law firm as a sole proprietorship instead of an S-corporation on two years of tax filings. That created a red flag for the IRS, Tyler said, which then did an audit. Because of the filing error, he said, payroll and office expenses were classified not as deductions but as taxable, personal income.
“I don’t make enough money to actually owe [$207,000],” Tyler said. “It was a foul up, and it was a combination of our accountant misfiling, me not catching it and the bureaucracy of the IRS — one hand not knowing what the other did. So, while we were in reconsideration and they were recognizing it was a simple mistake, the other hand filed a huge tax lien and almost gave my wife a heart attack.”
Tyler was admitted to the bar in 2003 and his Suwanee-based law firm specializes in DUI defense. He is a combat veteran with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and is a former K9 sergeant and SWAT officer with the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office.
Colvin-Leary is a Lawrenceville attorney who has been in practice for 17 years and also serves as a prosecutor and solicitor for the city of Winder.
She told the AJC on Tuesday she believes liens like those against her opponent “could be problematic for any person, elected or potential candidate.”
Gwinnett State Court handles misdemeanor and traffic violations that are prosecuted by the solicitor’s office, as well civil actions.
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