Breaux Bridge woman sentenced to over 3 years for not paying taxes

LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) -- A Breaux Bridge woman was sentenced to 41 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for tax fraud charges, according to a press release from the U.S. District Attorney's Office.

Joan Chauvin Edgar, 71, of Breaux Bridge, was sentenced today by the United States District Judge Robert R. Summerhays. Edgar was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $375,213.54.

Edgar was charged in July 2020 and pleaded guilty September 10, 2021, to failing to pay over withholding and F.I.C.A. (Social Security) Taxes.

According to information presented to the court, Edgar established NGE Techs, LLC (NGE) in New Iberia,
Louisiana, in 2012 and the company existed until 2017.

NGE provided employees and other services to oilfield production companies. As an employer, NGE was required to withhold employment taxes from its employees’ wages throughout a quarter and maintain them in “trust” to be paid to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at the end of the quarter.

As the sole owner of NGE, Edgar was responsible for collecting, accounting for, and paying over the trust fund taxes on behalf of the company.

She submitted Forms W-3 (“Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements”) to the Social Security Administration for 2012 through 2017, reflecting the total wages paid to her employees by the company and taxes withheld by the company from its employees’ paychecks.

However, Edgar never paid any of the withheld taxes to the IRS as required. Edgar admitted that during the second quarter of 2015, although she had deducted and collected taxes from her employees to pay to the IRS, she failed to pay them when they became due.

Edgar admitted to knowing she had a duty to pay those taxes and to voluntarily and intentionally violating that duty.

The case was investigated by the IRS-Criminal Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Danny Siefker.