Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.
Aberdeen, Md.: The U.S. has filed to permanently bar preparer Charese Johnson and her business from preparing federal returns and promoting a frivolous tax avoidance scheme.
According to the complaint, Johnson, doing business as Prodigy Accounting Services, prepares income tax returns for customers that fraudulently overstate the refunds due by claiming false withholdings or credits. The complaint alleges that she also promotes a tax-avoidance scheme based upon the bogus “redemption” theory, in which individuals assert that the federal government maintains secret accounts for U.S. citizens that can be accessed by issuing various forms to the IRS.
According to the complaint, Johnson prepares fraudulent 1099-As and 8281s for clients to claim enormous refunds on their behalf – totaling, claims the government, millions of dollars in bogus refunds.
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Preparer Yashica Toshian Tucker, 40, has been sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison for making a false claim against the U.S. government and was ordered to pay $196,784 restitution to the IRS.
Tucker was charged in April by a federal grand jury in a 10-count indictment that alleged she prepared and filed false federal refund claims between January 2011 and February 2013; Tucker pleaded guilty to one of those counts in August.
Tucker has agreed to be permanently barred from preparing or filing federal tax returns for anyone other than herself, and was ordered not to file returns on behalf of others during the three years that she will be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office following release from prison.
Fort Washington, Md.: Preparer Vivencio P. Concepcion, 53, has pleaded guilty to aiding in the preparation of false returns.
According to his plea agreement, Concepcion operated Money Concept Services, where from January 2009 to April 2012 he prepared more than 24 false federal individual tax returns for more than nine taxpayers using inflated charitable contribution amounts, fictitious unreimbursed employee business expenses and fictitious business income and expenses.
Concepcion admitted that his conduct resulted in a tax loss of between $211,666 and $400,000. In addition to agreeing to pay $211,666 in restitution, Concepcion faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison at his sentencing on January 29.
Roselawn, Ohio: Preparer Walter Boyd, 37, has reportedly admitted to participating in a refund scheme that officials said involved between $400,000 and $1 million.
According to news outlets, Boyd worked for ABT Services and prepared some 300 income tax returns for 2010 and 2011 that officials say involved the submission of false claims for refunds. The business has since closed, reports added.
According to reports, Boyd earned less than $5,000 from the scheme; officials said that ABT’s owner, who was not named, took most of the fees charged from the fraudulent refunds.
Boyd faces up to five years in prison. A sentencing date has not been set, reports added.
Mount Ephraim, N.J.” Preparer Marc Mecca, 54, has been charged with three counts of forgery and one count of theft for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from a client.
Mecca allegedly forged the victim’s signature on three years’ refund checks totaling $9,467 and deposited the money into his own account in June 2013.
Mecca was indicted on all four counts by a grand jury in September.
