A Florida woman was sentenced to one year and one day in prison today for helping to execute a nationwide tax fraud scheme and attempting to prevent the IRS from recovering a fraudulent refund she received after filing a false tax return.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Rebecca Cyphers, 65, of Winter Springs, Florida, participated in a nationwide tax fraud scheme from at least September 2014 to May 2016. As part of the scheme, promoters recruited clients by convincing them that their mortgages and other debts entitled them to tax refunds. Other members of the scheme prepared tax returns on behalf of clients for submission to the IRS, falsely reporting that banks and other financial institutions had withheld large amounts of income tax that entitled the clients to refunds. In reality, the financial institutions had not paid any income to, or withheld any taxes from, the clients. Cyphers admitted to her role in the scheme, which included inviting potential clients to at least one recruiting seminar. She also encouraged the prospective clients to participate in the scheme, even though Cyphers knew it was illegal.
Cyphers personally benefitted from the scheme by filing an amended 2013 income tax return that falsely claimed her mortgage holder had withheld more than $560,000 in taxes. As a result, the IRS issued Cyphers a refund of approximately $240,000 that she was not entitled to receive. Cyphers obstructed the IRS’s efforts to recover these…
