The former owner of Excell Personnel, Inc., just found out the significant financial impact that temps can have on a company …

It cost his company $4,235,670.16 in unpaid payroll taxes.

Everything seemed normal from the outside: Businesses would need workers, and Brian Alexander Brown’s company would locate, hire and train people to serve as temporary employees. Instead of paying employees directly, these businesses would pay Excell a fee for the “leased employees” that’d cover labor and administrative costs.

Sounds simple enough. But the catch — and a major source of profit for Excell — was the company withheld income and FICA taxes for the employees yet never remitted them to IRS.

Chalk it up to confusion about what gets withheld and where the money goes? Not here. U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper said that Brown admitted he was fully aware of his company’s legal obligations to remit taxes, and he knowingly decided to hold onto the funds.

At least he can own up to his theft. But the 36-month prison sentence and $4.2 million in restitution proves IRS doesn’t care whether you know you’ve done something wrong — it’s going to get its money.

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Tags: IRS, Payroll, Prison, Taxes, Temps