Tax liability when a company does not pay withholding to the gov't

[sunfish]

Note: This post is not a request for legal advice. I'm only looking for statutes or case law that may apply.


I'm trying to get a sense of the tax issues (fines, penalties, etc.) for a couple of related circumstances.

Scenario 1: Suzie Q is a former employee of The Company LLC. She receives a W-4 for her salary/wages at the end of the year, and gets ready to file her taxes. Before she does, she is told by a current employee that the LLC may not have actually sent to the feds the amount that is shown as withheld on her W-4. Suzie didn't get any more net pay that is shown on the W-4, though, and she has the pay stubs and bank deposit records to demonstrate it.

If Suzie goes ahead and files her tax return anyway and the IRS catches the discrepancy, who gets penalized - Suzie, the LLC, or both?

Scenario 2: Just as above, only this time Suzie also happens to be a member of the LLC, with 2% of the shares, but had no operational responsibilities with respect to company bookkeeping. Does the liability issue change?


Again, I'm not looking for advice, just some background information to understand the issues involved. Thanks.