Virginia Beach Tax Preparer Sentenced to 21 Months in Prison
NORFOLK, Va. – Paul Zimmerman, Jr., 49, of Virginia Beach, Va., was sentenced today to 21 months in prison, followed by one year of supervised release, for aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns.
Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior United States District Judge Robert G. Doumar. Zimmerman pled guilty on July 11, 2012.
According to court documents, Zimmerman owned and operated Paul’s Taxes and Services located on Virginia Beach Boulevard in Norfolk. Zimmerman provided assistance with preparing federal income tax returns for his clients. After discovering errors and irregularities in tax returns filed by clients of Zimmerman, the Internal Revenue Service began an investigation. The investigation showed that Zimmerman, without his clients’ knowledge, would claim illegitimate rental properties, inflate expenses related to legitimate rental properties, inflate business expenses, and claim mortgage interest payments on properties without mortgages, among other things. This falsely reported information would result in lowering his clients’ tax liabilities or in generating refunds. Court documents state that Zimmerman aided and assisted in the preparation of 35 false tax returns for 17 different clients for tax years 2006-2009. The tax loss to the government was $102,704.
This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service. Assistant United States Attorney Randy Stoker prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.
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