Man in Clarksville Guilty of Tax Fraud
A man in Clarksville had pleaded guilty in a federal court for the crime of filing a false tax income on January 14, 2013.
The man’s name was James Robert Sanford, 53, and in addition to filing a false tax income he was also guilty for aiding and abetting a false claim for a federal income tax refund. Jerry E. Martin, an Attorney for Tennessee, officially announced the news.
Sanford had brushes with the law a couple of years before this incident. On November 30, 2011, Sanford had been indicted by a federal grand jury in Nashville, and was charged with 6 counts of filing false income tax returns. Based on the indictment filed, Sanford had prepared and filed 2006 and 2007 federal income tax returns for him and his wife, knowing full well that the returns were fraudulent. The 2006 tax return claimed refunds of $5,774 and the 2007 tax return claimed refunds of $4,276.
Not only has Sanford filed false income tax returns for himself, but he did it for others as well, making a profit through his schemes. The returns that he claimed for these refunds for others were from $3,490 to $7,128.
Sanford will be sentenced on April 8, and he is likely to face a maximum penalty of 5 years imprisonment, in addition to a $250,000 fine for each false income tax return he made. He has come clean for all the false income tax returns he has claimed, and will be sentenced by Chief Judge William J. Haynes, Jr.
Categories: Federal Tax, Income Tax, Tax Evasion, Tax Law Tags: federal income tax, federal tax, federal tax fraud, income tax, tax crime, tax evasion, tax fraud
Florida Prisoner Caught Filing Fraudulent Federal Income Tax Returns
It seems that prison isn’t a good enough reason to keep you from cheating on your federal income tax.
WJHG (Source Below) has reported that Michael William Joseph III, an inmate of the Apalachee Correctional Institution in Florida, has pleaded guilty for filing fraudulent federal income tax returns to the IRS. This wouldn’t be Joseph’s first conviction of tax fraud, however. He has been serving time for faking federal income tax returns dating all the way back to 2006.
Prison, however, hasn’t kept Joseph from trying to scam the government with some fake federal income tax returns. He had filled out a series of tax forms with fabricated amounts of income and deductions. He had used the identities of his co-inmates in order to validate his returns. The illegitimately refunded federal income tax would then be deposited to various accounts he had control over.
What had tipped off Joseph’s tax scam was the size of his illegal refunds. Joseph had sought a total of nearly $180,000 in federal income tax returns. For a time it seemed that Joseph had managed to pull his scheme off when the government cashed him out for an alleged $50,000.
But investigators quickly got wind of his scam and successfully retrieved over $17,500 of the unlawfully refunded federal income tax from his personal bank account. An additional $11,600 was found in the mother’s ex-husband’s backyard.
The fifty three year old Joseph was indicted on various charges including but not limited to filing false federal income tax returns. Other charges include theft and mail fraud, amounting to a prison sentence of up to twenty years.
Categories: Federal Tax, Income Tax, State Tax, Tax Evasion, Tax Law Tags: avoiding taxes, federal income tax, federal tax, income tax, IRS, tax code, tax court, tax crime, tax evasion, tax fraud
Paying Less and Saving Money on Taxes
Tax season often sneaks up on a person and many people are not prepared to see what happens when their taxes are done come the beginning of the next year. Many families are scared to death when it comes to figuring out their taxes. This is because taxes are the largest expense that a family will run across through out the year. Often times a family will find out that they are paying more in taxes than what is required. There are many tips to help you not fall into this category.
Computer
One of the most popular ways to help you save taxes is to purchase a computer program such as TurboTax or H&R Block’s TaxCut. These programs are becoming more in depth every year can help you save money in several ways. By using one of these programs you will find that you will be able to e-file your tax return. This will help you to save on filing costs or having to pay an accountant or another type of tax preparer. A bonus is that because you have filed electronically you should get your money back in about two weeks.
Itemize
People sometimes lose out on money they are deserved because they do not itemize the deductions that they have. The reason why they do not itemize is because they are trying to save time. However what they are really doing is losing out on probably hundreds of dollars. Taking the time to itemize can help you get a larger return in the end. It is definitely worth the additional time that is need.
Purchase A House
If you are a person who has thought about purchasing a house but has not yet made the final decision you are losing out. You could be paying less tax by being able to deduct interest on the mortgage loan. If you are living in a home but are renting from someone the person you are renting from is receiving the extra dollars from your house. You might want to consider buying the house from your landlord.
401K
Another option for paying less tax is to sign yourself up for a 401K plan. This is a plan that puts money from your paycheck into a retirement account for you. The good thing here is that the money that is transferred into the 401K is not taxable income. Therefore you are paying less in taxes.
There are also other benefits to a 401K such as being able to borrow money from the plan. Many people with bad credit often turn to personal loans with bad credit lenders. With a loan from your 401K plan this will not be necessary because in reality you are borrowing from yourself.
Transfer Credit Card Debt
Another popular way to help you save money when it comes to tax time is to use the equity you have in your home as a debt consolidation loan. Your credit card interest is not tax deductible but the interest from a mortgage loan is. Many people will use a refinance or a second mortgage to help pay off their debts and then claim the interest on their taxes.
If you take the time to do your taxes the proper way you will find that you will have many more tax deductions and will owe a lot less in the amount of taxes that you pay. A little patience while doing the taxes can reward you with more money in the end.
Author Bio
Darrell is a guest post contributor. He loves to write on finance based issues.
Categories: Federal Tax, Income Tax, State Tax Tags: federal tax, income tax, saving money on taxes, taxes