Curtis B. Urps, who owns CBU Enterprises in Greenville, pled guilty today in federal court in Anderson to failure to pay payroll taxes, United States Attorney Bill Nettles said.

Urps failed to collect and pay more than $1 million in payroll taxes from Janury 2006 through March 2010, Nettles said. Urps business is a well-known construction and home-improvement services firm.

United States District Judge Timothy M. Cain of Anderson accepted Urps plea and will impose sentence after he has reviewed a pre-sentence report that will be prepared by the U.S. Probation Office.        

Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing Wednesday established that Urps failed to collect and pay over payroll taxes to the Internal Revenue Service. Urps treated his painters and drywall installers as independent contractors rather than employees as they should have been classified in order to avoid paying federal income taxes and FICA taxes, Nettles said.  

The case was investigated by agents of the Internal Revenue Service.  Assistant United States Attorney Bill Watkins of the Greenville office handled the case.