Taxable Talk

One of my clients handed me a 1099-OID today. That’s income to him, duly noted on his now-filed tax return. A different individual decided to promote a very different OID plan, an “O.I.D. Process.” He’ll be spending nearly six years at ClubFed.

Duffy R. Dashner (aka Kevin Dashner) was a resident of Reseda, California (in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles). He and co-conspirators founded a business called O.I.D. Process. The business filed phony Original Issue Discount (OID) refund claims–a whopping 200 refunds claiming $228 million.

The OID refund scheme has been around for some time. There’s supposedly a secret account that you can have access to by just filing some Form 1099-OIDs. You just claim that the money was all withheld, so you didn’t get any of it, and soon you have a tax refund! What can go wrong (besides it being illegal)?

Anyway, Mr. Dashner decided to promote his business via website. He had weekly conference calls to clients to help them prepare the returns. They received a 20% “refund acquisition fee” for all checks issued by the IRS, and they demanded clients change their address to an unnamed attorney (well, the DOJ press release says he’s an attorney but who knows for how long that will continue) to make sure that the conspirators got their share of the ill-gotten gains. Clients also had to pay an up-front registration fee.

Mr. Dashner pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to submit false claims. He received 57 months at ClubFed and must also make restitution of $1,769,418. If someone tells you there’s a magic way of anyone getting money from the IRS by filing a Form 1099-OID, run, don’t walk, in the other direction.

You own a payroll company with your son. It’s been a good year, so you decide to give yourself a bonus from the corporation. There’s nothing wrong with that–it’s your company, and you certainly can pay yourself whatever you feel is appropriate. You do need to report that income on your tax return, of course. That last step was omitted by the subjects of this post.

William and Robert McCullough are a father and son who reside in Westborough, Massachusetts. They own a payroll company, Harpers Data Services, in Worcester, Massachusetts. There company did quite well from 2007 to 2012, as they deposited $11 million in two company bank accounts. They didn’t tell their company accountant about those two accounts. Well, the corporation only omitted $3.78 million from the corporation tax return.

Meanwhile, William McCullough wrote checks to himself, his son, and Gary Davis, a former owner of the business. One series of checks totaled $4.7 million; another was $2.7 million. That allowed the McCulloughs and Davis to avoid $1.7 million of personal income tax. The McCulloughs and Davis pleaded guilty to various tax evasion charges last week. William McCullough also pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

From 2009 through 2011, Harpers maintained client trust accounts and a client tax account. These accounts contained client funds, which were to be used to pay employees’ paychecks and employees’ federal and state taxes. From 2009 through 2011, William McCullough took approximately $1 million from the client trust accounts and deposited it into a Harpers account. In 2010, he took $750,000 from the client tax account and deposited it into a Harpers account. At the time William McCullough took this money, the funds belonged solely to the clients of Harpers Data Services. McCullough’s fraud resulted in a theft of approximately $1.8 million dollars.

The McCulloughs and Mr. Davis will almost certainly be heading to ClubFed. This is yet another reminder for everyone who uses a payroll service to join EFTPS and make sure your payroll deposits are being made. Trust but verify is excellent practice in payroll.

Ricky Brinkley used to be a State Senator in Oklahoma; he represented Tulsa and nearby areas. He resigned last week and then pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return.

Over a ten-plus year period Mr. Brinkley had fraudulently obtained over $1.2 Million from the Better Business Bureau. Mr. Brinkley was President and CEO of the organization; he created phony invoices and used the money for personal expenses and to support his gambling habit. He also admitted to not reporting $148,390 in income on his 2013 tax return.

Mr. Brinkley agreed to forfeit $1,829,033.66–the proceeds from his embezzlement. FBI Special Agent in Charge Scott Cruse of the Oklahoma City Division stated,

[C]riminal investigations against those holding positions of public trust are never easy, but they are among some of the most important cases that we do in the FBI. That is because we hold our public servants to a higher standard. Our citizens expect their public servants to uphold the law in all aspects of their lives, whether it be in connection with their public responsibilities or in their personal endeavors.

Mr. Brinkley faces a term at ClubFed; he’ll be sentenced later this year.

As I get ready to teach a course in ethics, I have plenty of practical examples of things not to do. Today I look at the idea of preparing one set of tax returns for clients but using a second set of returns when submitting the returns to the IRS. Of course, those second returns had higher refund amounts with the difference being pocketed by the preparers. After all, what’s a little tax fraud?

Well, it’s a crime, and Ahmed Grant and his wife Lillian Madyun will likely get to sample ClubFed. Ms. Madyun also has the dubious distinction of being a former IRS employee. The two pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud against the United States last week. The two had pocketed at least $160,000 from their scheme (which they did in the Memphis area) but they face up to ten years each at ClubFed and fines of up to $250,000 each.

If you commit fraud do you have to report the illegal income on your tax return? Absolutely! Illegal income is just as taxable as legal income. Al Capone went to prison not for the murders and other crimes he committed but for tax evasion.

William Richmond of Atkinson, New Hampshire learned that lesson. He held a durable power of attorney and used that to allegedly commit fraud. This past week he pleaded guilty to tax evasion (but not the underlying fraud); he failed to report the illegal income on his tax returns. As part of his plea he will be required to make restitution to the couple he stole from. He may also be heading to ClubFed.