President of Richmond consulting firm pleads guilty to employment tax fraud

On September 3, 2020, Rama Gogineni of Chesterfield County, Virginia pleaded guilty to failing to collect, truthfully account for, and pay over employment taxes.

According to court documents, Gogineni served as the director of Computech Systems, Inc. (CTSI) from its inception in 2000 and as the company’s president since at least 2005. As part of Gogineni’s position at the technology consulting services firm in Richmond, VA, Gogineni was responsible to withhold Medicare, Social Security, and federal income taxes from CTSI’s employees’ wages and to pay over these taxes to the IRS. These taxes are known collectively as “trust fund taxes” because employers, who hold these taxes in trust for the United States, are required to pay them over to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on behalf of their employees. In addition to trust fund taxes, the Internal Revenue Code also required CTSI to pay an employer’s share of Medicare and Social Security taxes (FICA taxes). The combined trust fund taxes and the employer’s share of FICA taxes are referred to as “employment taxes.”

Beginning as early as 2007 and through 2015, Gogineni did not pay over more than $980,000 in employment taxes to the IRS. During this time, Gogineni entered into three separate installment agreements with the IRS committing to make the payments but defaulted each time.

“Gogineni’s failure to pay over employment taxes withheld, not only resulted in decreased revenue to the US Treasury Department but can negatively impact future social security and Medicare benefits for the employees whose withholding Gogineni failed to deliver to the IRS,” said IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Kelly R. Jackson. “We will continue to investigate those who fail to uphold their obligations to pay over taxes due and hold them accountable – everyone must pay their fair share.”