Thursday, June 23, 2011

Ward Hit With $18,000 Tax Bill

An elderly man missing nearly $168,000 from his estate after he went into guardianship under Jeffrey Schend is liable for more than $18,000 in taxes and penalties after bills came due and went unpaid under Schend’s watch, records show.

The Wisconsin Department of Revenue last year issued two tax warrants on a 78-year-old man for unpaid state income taxes, interest and penalties. Schend was in control of his affairs when the bills came due. The man’s missing funds are part of the criminal case against Schend, who’s charged in Outagamie County Court with six felony theft counts and one count of misdemeanor theft.

Tax warrants are liens that allow the state to collect money from wages and assets.

Wisconsin statutes on guardianships specifically cite tax payments among the responsibilities of those appointed to handle an incompetent client’s finances.

Statutes say guardians are to pay legally enforceable debts of their clients, “including by filing tax returns and paying any taxes owed, from the ward's estate and income and assets.”

“The guardian of estate of an individual would certainly have the fiduciary responsibility to attend to any tax-related issues on behalf of the ward,” said Aaron Janssen, an attorney for Outagamie County.

Full Article and Source:
Elderly Man Liable for $18,000 in Overdue Taxes From Money Missing After He Went into Guardianship Under Jeffrey Schend

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

How much is Schend's house worth? Start liquidating and paying these bills!

Barbara said...

Want to bet that the IRS gets their $18K from the ward or ward's family and not from Schend?

Anonymous said...

In our case the IRS came after me for what was owed on the ward's estate that was cleaned out by the temporary guardian - the nerve of the IRS the estate had $00.00 we were recovering what was embezzled. I told the IRS sorry you got the wrong person told them where to find the crook. And, what's even sicker about this is the IRS DID NOT go after the perp.

StandUp said...

So, the IRS just writes off these as losses if they can't harass the family into paying?

Anonymous said...

One would think the IRS would be fair I guess one would think wrong. If taxes aren't paid it's because those who are billing are so greedy they want it ALL for themselves. Those who dismiss these cases need to be guardianized. Volutneers?