Today, a man from Gulfport, Mississippi, admitted to preparing fake federal tax returns for clients.
Orland Reed worked at a Gulfport tax return preparation business, according to court documents and testimony.
He produced tax forms for clients between 2012 and 2014 that included phony household help income, education credits, dependent information, and federal income tax withholdings in order to obtain greater IRS refunds than the clients were entitled to.
Reed also listed a different tax preparer on several occasion, despite the fact that he prepared the returns himself.
Reed funneled client refunds sent by the IRS to the tax preparation business in the form of prepaid debit cards on at least two instances for his own use, in addition to creating fake tax returns.
Before giving the cards to the clients, Reed removed part of the monies on the cards.
Reed, who faces a maximum sentence of three years in jail for assisting his clients in filing false taxes, will be sentenced on September 22.
In addition, he will be subject to supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.
After considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory criteria, a federal district court judge will impose any sentence.
The announcement was made by the Justice Department’s Tax Division’s Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg and U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca for the Southern District of Mississippi.
The case is being investigated by the IRS Criminal Investigation Division.
The case is being prosecuted by Tax Division Trial Attorney Kevin Schneider and Assistant United States Attorney Stan Harris for the Southern District of Mississippi.