The U.S. government on Monday sued Sen. Jim Justice, a West Virginia Republican, and his wife for more than $5 million in unpaid federal income taxes, penalties, and interest dating to the 2009 tax filing year.
"Despite notice and demand for payment of the assessments ...James C. Justice, II, and Cathy L. Justice have neglected or refused to make full payment of those assessments to the United States," the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Beckley, West Virginia, alleged.
The lawsuit, filed by the Tax Division of the Department of Justice, asks a judge to enter a judgment in favor of the U.S. against the couple in the amount of $5,164,739.75, the amount owed to the Internal Revenue Service as of Aug. 4, according to the filing.
Hours after the suit was docketed, a lawyer for the Justices and the DOJ filed a joint motion asking a judge to enter a consent judgment in favor of the U.S. for the amount requested.
The motion, which still requires a judge's approval, indicates that the couple agreed to resolve their case by being ordered to pay the amount requested. But it does not say when they would or could pay that money.
The suit was filed nearly two months after the IRS filed notices of tax liens for more than $8 million against Justice, who is the former governor of West Virginia, in Greenbrier County.
One of the notices referenced a federal income tax assessment of more than $3 million for the tax year 2009, which was assessed on Nov. 25, 2015 — the same date as the assessment referenced in the lawsuit filed Monday.
The second federal income tax assessment, for nearly $5 million, was for the tax filing year 2017. A third such assessment, for the 2024 tax year, was for nearly $11,000./
Politico, which first broke the news of the tax lien on Oct. 10, noted then that the IRS website says "generally the IRS can pursue collection of a tax liability up to 10 years from the date it was assessed. A Notice of Federal Tax Lien may be filed any time within that 10-year period."
Tuesday is the end of a 10-year period that would have begun on Nov. 25, 2015.
Justice was elected to the Senate in November 2024, replacing Sen. Joe Manchin, an independent who quit the Democratic caucus earlier that year.
The coal mining heir previously served as West Virginia's governor from 2017 until he entered the Senate in January.
The tax-related lawsuit comes weeks after a federal judge in Tennessee found Justice liable for more than $29 million in civil damages and prejudgment interest to Lexon Insurance Company over a breached surety-bond contract tied to his coal mining business.
CNBC has requested comment on the tax lawsuit from Justice's Senate office and from attorneys who have represented him.
