Accountant Pleads Guilty in Tax Case

An Arizona accountant has pleaded guilty to charges of preparing a false tax return.

Accountant Charles D. Kober pled guilty Monday to aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return. Kober admitted in his plea agreement that he prepared tax returns at the direction of an attorney in connection with a package of three offshore trusts designed to reduce or eliminate a client’s income tax obligations. The government contends that Kober prepared tax returns in connection with the fraudulent trust scheme from at least 1980 through 2004. The tax loss was estimated at between $200,000 and $400,000, according to the plea agreement.

“Tax return preparers who help others evade taxes do more than harm the reputation of law-abiding professionals,” said Dawn Mertz, special agent in charge of the Phoenix field office of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation division, in a statement. “By defrauding the federal treasury, they harm all honest taxpayers.”

Kober faces up to three years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for July 30.

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