West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice holds up his dog Babydog as he comes to the end of his State of the State speech in the House chambers, at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston, W.Va., Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022.
Chris Dorst | Charleston Gazette | AP
The U.S. government on Monday sued Sen. Jim Justice, a West Virginia Republican, and his wife for $5.1 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, which was the amount owed to the Internal Revenue Service as of Aug. 4, according to the filing.
The suit was filed nearly two months after the IRS reportedly filed notices of a tax lien for $8 million against Justice in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. One of the notices referenced a tax assessment dated Nov. 25, 2015 — the same date as the assessment referenced in the lawsuit filed Monday.
Politico, which 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 began 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 governor of West Virginia 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.
