A woman in another state is going to prison after being found guilty of preparing and filing false tax returns. The moral of this story is simply this: tax crimes do not pay. Connecticut residents who find themselves facing or potentially facing criminal charges over tax filings could help themselves by seeking legal counsel as soon as possible.
According to a recent report, the 61-year-old woman has been a tax preparer for quite some time. Numerous people turned to her for her ability to get higher than usual tax refunds for her clients. For this, they were willing to pay a premium for her services. Unfortunately, what her clients did not know at the time is that she was filing false tax returns in order to get those higher refunds.
Tax preparers are the ones held responsible for filing errors. In this case, this woman pleaded guilty to the charges against her and was sentenced to just over five years in prison for her actions. She was also ordered to pay nearly $250,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. Actual damages in this case are said to be upward of $3.5 million.
Not all tax errors are tax crimes. If they were, a lot more people would be in prison for falsifying tax returns. Sometimes, mistakes are made that really are unintentional. Connecticut residents who stand accused of committing tax crimes, regardless if there is any truth to the accusations, can help themselves by retaining legal representation. With the assistance of an experienced tax crimes attorney, the proper legal steps to fight the matter can be taken and the best possible outcome sought.