Bouncy bouncy; PPP penalty; doughnut try this at home; and other highlights of recent tax cases.
Orem, Utah: Resident Louis Hansen has been sentenced to 51 months in prison for tax evasion and corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the IRS.
In March 2012, Hansen gave the IRS a $342,669.41 check that he knew was drawn on a closed bank account, in a fraudulent effort to evade paying taxes, penalties and interest he’d owed for years. In June of that year, he presented 10 additional checks to the IRS drawn on a different closed bank account in another attempt to fraudulently discharge his debt; each of these 10 checks was made out for $425,000, and Hansen sent them to at least six IRS offices.
Hansen was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to pay some $342,699 in restitution to the United States.
Grand Rapids, Michigan: Tax preparer Gonzalo Ramon Rodriguez, 59, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to aiding and assisting in the preparation of false and fraudulent returns.
Rodriguez admitted to improperly using the e-filing credentials of two other providers, selecting the wrong filing status for his clients, reporting business expenses and losses that his taxpayer clients did not incur, and claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit for clients who didn’t qualify.
He cost the U.S. some $111,504 by filing 41 false returns for tax years 2014 through 2018.
Rodriguez was also ordered to pay that amount in restitution to the U.S. and sentenced…
