Tax Fraud Blotter: Another Instant Tax case

An ITS preparer is sentenced, an injunction for ‘serial tax fraud,’ and other highlights of recent cases.

Indianapolis: Former preparer William L. Brown, 39, has been sentenced to a year in prison for his role in assisting in the filing of fraudulent returns and stealing more than $302,000 from the U.S. Treasury.

Brown was a preparer for Instant Tax Service, and from 2010 until 2012 filed 65 returns, inflating business income or losses that resulted in unauthorized Earned Income Credits and refunds to clients of ITS.

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hand in jail

Omaha, Neb.: Preparer Lisa R. Holmes, 42, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison to be followed by a year of supervised release and been ordered to pay $48,833 restitution after entering a plea of guilty to tax fraud.

Holmes created false Schedules C for many clients over several years – providing information that the clients had business income that they did not truly have – to inflate refunds.

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