Capitol Hill restaurant owner pleads guilty in $1.5M payroll tax case

(Image: Single Shot)

The owner of Capitol Hill’s Single Shot restaurant pleaded guilty Monday to failing to pay more than $1.5 million in federal payroll taxes over a ten-year span.

Rory McCormick, 44, admitted that between 2014 and 2024 when the investigation began, he withheld Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment taxes from employee paychecks but pocketed the money rather than paying the Internal Revenue Service.

Across 36 quarters, McCormick kept $1,027,362 in employee withholdings and failed to pay over $400,000 in required employer-matching contributions, resulting in a total tax loss of $1,446,341. He also admitted to skipping his personal income tax filings from 2015 through 2024.

“While the restitution is owed to the IRS, those who are hurt by this conduct are the employees,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd in an announcement of the plea deal. “The failure to pay over the taxes means the employees may not be eligible for many federal benefits that they paid for and may have been counting on.”

While the offense carries a maximum potential sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, prosecutors agreed under the deal to recommend a reduced sentence of no more than 15 months.

U.S. District Judge Kimberly K. Evanson will determine the final penalty at sentencing in October. As part of the agreement, McCormick has also committed to paying $1,446,341 in full restitution to the IRS.

Employees are not on the hook. Once an employer withholds federal income tax and FICA from a worker’s paycheck, the employee is legally credited for paying those taxes and not required to pay those withheld taxes back out of their own pockets.

CHS is told the IRS Criminal Investigation unit opened the case and was conducting interviews as early as August 2024.

McCormick has also been a partner in Seattle restaurants Re:Public and El Grito Taqueria. The other two restaurants are not named in the filing and do not have charges against them. At Single Shot, the restaurant veteran is the sole registered agent, according to state filings.

“Mr. McCormick’s employees trusted him with their tax withholdings. Little did they know that Mr. McCormick took advantage of this trust and kept over $1 million of these funds for himself,” said Special Agent in Charge Carrie Nordyke of IRS Criminal Investigation.

Single Shot has remained open at 611 Summit Ave E.

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