Taxable Talk

I am rarely surprised when I write about tax crime. I remember reading on Fark about a 91 year old bank robber with the headline never too old to steal. Today’s subject is a little younger, but still one of our senior citizens.

Well, let’s head to North Platte, Nebraska. Thomas Miller is a retired dentist in North Platte. He also has some annuities and pensions (which isn’t unusual). But his tax returns painted a somewhat different story.

According to this article, in 1998 he allegedly reported a tax loss of $1.6 million…but it should have been zero. In 1999, he reported a loss of $22,730 but he should have reported over $369,000 in pension and annuity income. He was indicted for this, and for reporting tax losses in 2001 and 2002 when the government believes that none should have been reported.

But it gets worse. Mr. Miller also faces charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and swindling for allegedly taking $1.3 million in investor’s money, putting it in accounts in Grenada, and then allegedly sending the money elsewhere overseas for his own use.

Mr. Miller pleaded guilty to two counts of tax fraud on September 4th. He still appears to be facing the other charges with a court date in October.

At least three times I’ve written about Renaissance, the Tax People. The company, now out of business, was a multi-level marketing firm that promoted deducting personal expenses as business expenses. The latter is why they’re out of business, with the principals finding their way to ClubFed.

Thell G. Prueitt of Kingsland, Texas used to be at Renaissance. After that company dissolved, he set up shop at several other companies. The US Government alleges that Mr. Prueitt is promoting the same schemes as used at Renaissance, and the government is suing to bar him from preparing tax returns. The DOJ alleges that Mr. Prueitt’s materials, “…have falsely claimed that customers could convert non-deductible personal expenses into deductible business expenses and be ‘audit proof.'”

My old advice stands about any tax scheme that you come across: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Tax fraud comes in many shapes and forms. This weekend has given me a plethora of examples.

We’ll start in Dayton, Ohio. Martin Dorf found an interesting way to short the IRS: Report ten cents on the dollar. From 2001 through 2004 Mr. Dorf earned about $574,000 but he reported only $57,000. The IRS caught on to the scheme, and Mr. Dorf has pleaded guilty to one count of attempted tax evasion. Mr. Dorf has already made restitution, so he may avoid any time at ClubFed (he could get up to five years).

Billy Wayne Minor was a tax preparer in Brownsville, Tennessee. In 2006, he was charged with 15 counts of preparing false tax returns; he ended up pleading guilty to one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return. He got 18 months at ClubFed, a fine of $7,500, and he was permanently enjoined from preparing tax returns for others.

That wasn’t the only bozo tax preparer brought to justice recently. Thomas Mercer of Romulus, Michigan pleaded guilty to 30 counts in federal court. Mr. Mercer prepared 23 tax returns full of bogus deductions for things like business losses, charitable donations, and tuition and fees. His clients agreed to share their refunds—refunds that ranged between $900 and $19,000 for a total of $330,000—with him. Mr. Mercer also coached his clients on what to say during meetings with the IRS and provided them with phony documents backing up the phony deductions. Mr. Mercer is looking at a significant stay at ClubFed.

Heading now to Florida, we find the end of the political career of Warren Newell. Mr. Newell pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion and corruption charges. He attempted to pocket $500,000 through three schemes, and then use money laundering, false income tax returns, and false financial disclosure forms to cover them up. Mr. Newell used to be a County Commissioner in Palm Beach County. He’ll likely soon be visiting ClubFed.

Finally, we head down under to Sydney, Australia. Andrew McCall pleaded guilty to 32 counts of tax evasion, in a fraud scheme that cost Australia 530,257 Australian Dollars ($447,166 USD). Mr. McCall was sentenced to seven years imprisonment, and he must repay over 500,000 Australian Dollars. Mr.McCall used phony identities, false passports, and other false documents to deceive Australian authorities before he was caught.

As usual, for all of these individuals it would have been a lot easier to just pay the taxes and skip the fraud in the first place. But if they did that, I’d have a lot less to write about each week.