§ 44-30-76 - Employer's liability for withheld taxes – Violations – Penalties.
SECTION 44-30-76
§ 44-30-76 Employer's liability forwithheld taxes – Violations – Penalties. – (a) Every employer required to deduct and withhold Rhode Island personal incometax is hereby made liable for the tax. In addition, any amount of Rhode Islandpersonal income tax actually deducted and withheld shall be held to be aspecial fund in trust for the tax administrator. No employee shall have anyright of action against his or her employer in respect to any moneys deductedand withheld from his or her wages and required to be paid over to the taxadministrator in compliance or in intended compliance with this law.
(2) For purposes of this section the term "employer" includesan officer or employee of a corporation, including a dissolved corporation, ora member or employee of a partnership, if the officer, employee, or member isunder a duty to deduct and withhold Rhode Island personal income tax.
(b) If the tax administrator believes that the payment to thestate of the trust fund established under this section will be jeopardized bydelay, neglect, or misappropriation, he or she shall thereupon notify theemployer that the trust fund shall be segregated, and be kept separate andapart from all other funds and assets of the employer and shall not becommingled with any other funds or assets. The notice shall be given by eitherhand delivery or by registered mail, return receipt requested. Within four (4)days after the sending of the notice, all the taxes which thereafter eitherbecome collectible or are collected shall be deposited daily in any financialinstitution in the state defined in title 19 and the taxes shall be designatedas a special fund in trust for the state and payable to the state by theemployer as trustee of the fund. If an employer who has been notified tosegregate such trust funds as a result of its failure to remit Rhode Islandpersonal income taxes actually deducted and withheld fails to segregate suchtrust funds, or after such notice fails or refuses to deduct and withholdpersonal income tax from its employees, the tax administrator may instituteproceedings in the superior court of this state to restrain and enjoin suchemployer from engaging in business in this state until such time as theemployer complies with the notice to segregate trust funds.
(c) Any employer and any officer, agent, servant, or employeeof any corporate employer responsible for either the collection or payment ofthe tax, who appropriates or converts the tax collected to his or her own useor to any use other than the payment of the tax to the extent that the moneyrequired to be collected is not available for payment on the due date asprescribed in this chapter, shall upon conviction for each offense be fined notmore than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or be imprisoned for not exceeding oneyear, or by both such fine and imprisonment, the fine and the imprisonment tobe in addition to any other penalty provided by this chapter.
(d) The provisions of subsections (b) and (c) of this sectionshall not be exclusive, and shall be in addition to all other remedies whichthe tax administrator may employ in the enforcement and collection of taxes.