Special deal for undercover agents; class dismissed for 14 months; defense rests; and other highlights of recent tax cases.
Scranton, Pennsylvania: Tax preparer Donald Royce, 45, of Orlando, Florida, has pleaded guilty to a mail fraud charge and a tax fraud offense.
Royce defrauded a number of local taxpayers in 2014. After providing victims with a “client copy” of their return that showed the correct refund, he submitted fraudulent federal returns that inflated the refund due. After the IRS sent the refund to Royce, he kept the difference between the legitimate refund and the higher fraudulent amount for his personal use.
In one case, Royce instructed the victim clients to provide him with their tax payment and instead of forwarding the payment to the IRS, Royce kept the payment for himself.
His victims suffered more than $250,000 in losses.
The maximum for this offense is 23 years in prison, a term of supervised release following imprisonment and a fine of $500,000.
St. Louis: Tax preparer Robyn Tiffany Roberts has been sentenced to 54 months in prison for filing multiple false returns that triggered $432,000 in refunds, according to news reports.
Roberts previously pleaded guilty and admitted filing at least 18 false and fraudulent returns on behalf of 10 clients, including false information on wages, expenses and deductions and falsely claimed tax credits, reports added. She also reportedly admitted falsely inflating an undercover IRS agent’s refund from $357 to more…
