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State Rep. Nick Mackey has denied charges by the N.C. State Bar that he willfully failed to file four years of tax returns on time, saying he was following the advice of his tax preparer.
He also denied that he failed to pay four earlier years of taxes on time, saying he believed all forms had been filed and that monthly payments were being made.
In his response posted by the State Bar this morning, Mackey also denied charges that he didn't properly represent a former legal client, and disputed allegations about his former tenure as a Charlotte police officer.
Mackey faces a December hearing before the bar's Disciplinary Hearing Commission, which could opt to dismiss the charges or levy a punishment ranging from a warning to disbarment. The bar is the state agency that oversees North Carolina's 26,000 lawyers.
In July, the bar accused Mackey of “criminal acts” by a “willful” failure to file on time federal and state tax returns from 2003 through 2006.
It also accused him of failing to disclose on a 2002 application to take the state bar exam that he hadn't paid state and federal income taxes on time in 1999, 2001 and 2002 – and federal taxes on time in 1997.
Regarding those earlier taxes, Mackey wrote that he believed “that all required tax returns had been filed,” payment arrangements agreed upon and monthly payments made “pursuant to those arrangements.”
On the charge that he willfully failed to file the more recent taxes on time, Mackey wrote that he “relied on the advice of his tax preparer as to the filing requirements and deadlines and believes that he followed the advice as given.”
Mackey could not be reached this morning.
