Blog Post
Attorney Joshua S. Guillory Criminal Defense Blog
12/20/2013
There are many potential ways for someone involved with the preparing and filing of income taxes to run afoul of the law. When tax preparers intentionally prepare false tax documents, there is often little sympathy to be had from federal prosecutors. This was apparently the case for a Slidell man who owned and operated a tax preparation service. He now faces criminal law penalties after pleading guilty to several federal charges.
The man testified before a grand jury in March and said that he had not prepared a tax return in 2012 for anyone other than himself; this ultimately turned out not to be true. The more sensational charges, however, resulted from the man's false preparation of nearly 500 tax returns between 2008 and 2010.
The man admitted to inflating the amount of withholding of his clients -- to the tune of more than $2.2 million. He also admitted that he failed to report the income of fees he received for tax preparation, meaning he failed to pay more than $160,000 in federal taxes during that time.
The man now faces up to 11 years in federal prison, plus three years of supervised release after his prison term is up. It isn't clear why the man pleaded guilty to the charges; people in similar situations might choose to plead not guilty and fight the charges as best they can. In either case, someone accused of white collar crimes can often benefit from consulting with an experienced Louisiana criminal defense attorney.
blog/2013/12/ex-tax-preparer-looking-at-long-prison-stint-after-guilty-pleas.shtml