In order to answer this question, let’s talk a little about employment or payroll taxes.  Any business that uses employees, must withhold certain taxes from an employee’s pay check every pay period.   The taxes withheld are personal income taxes (federal and state), one half of Social Security (FICA) tax and Medicare taxes (collectively “withholding taxes”).  Since the employer holds these taxes “in trust”, they are known as trust fund taxes.  The employer must pay these trust fund taxes to the government on behalf of the employees through federal payroll tax deposits.

If a business fails to make the payroll tax deposits or makes insufficient tax deposits, the business will accrue payroll tax liability.  The IRS will attempt to collect these taxes from the business.  If the business cannot pay, or fails to pay its liability, the IRS will then assess a civil penalty, called the trust fund recovery penalty (TFRP), against those persons who are responsible for the collection and payment of the trust fund taxes.

The responsible person can be an owner or officer of a business or someone else who has the duty to account for, collect and pay in payroll taxes to the government.

So, depending on your position in the business, the answer is yes, the IRS can hold you personally liable for the payroll tax debt of the business.