The Kansas Department of Revenue and Marion County Sheriff’s officers executed tax warrants Friday morning that were filed in Marion County District Court against a Hillsboro business.
The department seized the business assets of Foth’s Service Center, owned by sole proprietor Lowell Foth and located at 131 S. Main, for nonpayment of state sales and withholding taxes totaling nearly $350,000.
All on-site cash, business inventory and personal property assets, including personal vehicles belonging to the owner, were seized and the business was sealed closed. Seized assets will be sold at public auction to pay toward delinquent tax.
According to the KDOR, warrant execution occurs when all other collection attempts, including multiple letters, telephone calls, letters of impending legal action, tax liens filed with the district court of domicile to secure the debt, previous bank levies and on-site till taps, are executed to bring the taxpayer into compliance have been exhausted.
Only after several unsuccessful attempts does the department take this type of aggressive warrant execution action of seizing assets, which in this instance resulted in the business being closed.
In a news release, the KDOR stated its standard practice is to continually encourage delinquent taxpayers, who are not lawfully filing or paying taxes, to voluntarily enter into a repayment agreement.
The release went on to state that when multiple collection attempts fail, “the department is forced to protect the interests of the state and employ civil actions aimed at encouraging the taxpayers to comply, such as a bank levy, a till tap or ultimately seizure of assets.”
