REVERE TAX PREPARER PLEADS GUILTY TO TAX VIOLATIONS
BOSTON, Mass. - DENNIS SENTNER, 57, of Revere, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner to one count of tax evasion and one count of aiding and abetting in the preparation of a false tax return.
Judge Gertner scheduled sentencing for July 26, 2011. SENTNER faces up to five years imprisonment on the tax evasion count and three years imprisonment on the aiding and abetting the false return count, to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
Had the case proceeded to trial the Government’s evidence would have proven that SENTNER was a tax return preparer and former CPA who operated a tax preparation business in Revere under the name Financial Protection, Inc. SENTNER deposited receipts from the business into accounts including several in his wife’s name, from which he made withdrawals for his own personal use.
The IRS determined that SENTNER had income for tax year 2002 of $138,455 and tax due and owing in the amount of $35,840, but SENTNER failed to file a return, or pay the income taxes due, for that year. In addition, SENTNER prepared a tax return for a client which included a form falsely claiming the client had a business and falsely claiming that business suffered a loss of $2,758. In fact, the client did not have a business and never told SENTNER he did. As a result, the client received a $2,669 refund to which he was not entitled.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation - Boston Field Division made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Balthazard of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.
