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Return Preparer Charged With Filing False Returns, DOJ Says

APR. 13, 2017

17-401

DATED APR. 13, 2017
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Citations: 17-401
VIRGINIA RETURN PREPARER INDICTED FOR FILING FRAUDULENT TAX RETURNS

VIRGINIA RETURN PREPARER INDICTED FOR FILING FRAUDULENT TAX RETURNS

THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2017

WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury sitting in Roanoke, Virginia, returned an indictment today charging a Danville, Virginia resident with filing false tax returns, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Rick A. Mountcastle for the Western District of Virginia.

According to the indictment, Timothy Harris owned and operated tax return preparation businesses in Danville and Rocky Mount, Virginia. From 2011 through 2014, Harris allegedly filed federal tax returns that claimed bogus business losses to which his clients were not entitled. The indictment charges that after the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revoked Harris’s Electronic Filing Identification Number (EFIN) in December 2012, he used another person’s EFIN to file additional tax returns.

An indictment is not a finding of guilt. Individuals charged in indictments are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

If convicted, Harris faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison for each count. He also faces a term of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg and Acting U.S. Attorney Mountcastle commended special agents of IRS — Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorneys Michael C. Boteler and William M. Montague of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.

 

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