June 11, 2010
COLORADO SPRINGS CPA TENDERS GUILTY PLEA TO PREPARING FALSE TAX RETURNS
DENVER – Steven DeHaven, age 48, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, tendered a guilty plea yesterday before U.S. District Court Chief Judge Wiley Y. Daniel to aiding in the preparation of a false tax return, U.S. Attorney David M. Gaouette and IRS Criminal Investigation Denver Field Office Special Agent in Charge Christopher M. Sigerson announced. Chief Judge Daniel deferred acceptance of the plea agreement until sentencing, which is scheduled for August 31, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. DeHaven remains free on a $25,000 unsecured bond.
Steven DeHaven was charged by an Information on April 9, 2010, where he waived his right to be indicted by a federal grand jury. He pled guilty yesterday, June 10, 2010.
According to the stipulated facts contained in the Information and subsequent plea agreement, DeHaven received his Colorado Certified Public Accountant’s license in 1984, and has worked in the accounting field for approximately 25 years. Beginning in 2004, DeHaven began operating a tax preparation business, Steven DeHaven CPA, from an office in his home in Colorado Springs, Colorado. From 2004 through approximately April, 2007, Mr. DeHaven assisted a number of his clients with the preparation and filing of materially false and fraudulent tax returns. Often, the clients were not aware of the false and fraudulent nature of these returns. These returns included some combination of Schedules A which contained false information about various deductions, including false or inflated deductions for charitable contributions and un-reimbursed employee business expenses, Schedules C which contained information about non-existent businesses, and Schedules D which contained false information about deductions for non-business bad debts. The purpose and effect of these false or inflated deductions was to increase the sizes of the refunds DeHaven’s clients would receive.
DeHaven assisted in the preparation of at least 84 returns, for the tax years 2003 through 2006, containing the types of false information described above. The total tax due and owing for these returns is $141,951.
One of these returns was filed on April 12, 2005, when DeHaven did willfully aid and assist in, and procure, counsel, and advise the preparation and presentation to the Internal Revenue Service, of a 2004 U.S. Individual Form 1040 Income Tax Return in the names of Joseph J. and Lynn C. Chesla. The 2004 returns were false and fraudulent as to material matters, in that the return falsely stated in Schedule A that Joseph J. and Lynn C. Chesla made charitable contributions of $4,288 and incurred unreimbursed employee business expenses of $16,745. It further states that the defendant falsely stated in Schedule D that Joseph J. and Lynn C. Chesla incurred non-business bad debt of $3,000, when, as the defendant well knew, the taxpayers did not make the charitable contributions and did not incur the un-reimbursed employee business expenses listed in Schedule A and did not incur the non-business bad debt listed in Schedule D.
“Combating Return Preparer fraud is a priority for IRS Criminal Investigation and we have committed many resources to investigating and prosecuting cases just like this,” said Christopher M. Sigerson, Special Agent in Charge for IRS Criminal Investigation. “Tax practitioners and return preparers have duty to their clients to prepare and complete accurate tax returns that comply with the law.”
Steven Dehaven pled guilty to one count of Aiding and assisting in preparing a false tax return which carries a penalty of not more than 3 year imprisonment, and a fine of up to $250,000. Per Dehaven’s plea agreement, he agrees to pay restitution for all relevant conduct to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the amount of $141,951.
This case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS CI). The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Kirsch.
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