Pennsylvania Return Preparer Sentenced to Prison

A Yeadon, Pennsylvania, resident was sentenced today to 12 months and 1 day in prison for filing false tax returns and conspiring to defraud the United States, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, United States Attorney William M. McSwain, and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Special Agent in Charge Guy Ficco.

On Oct. 12, 2018, Deron Joe was found guilty of one count of conspiring to defraud the United States by preparing and filing false tax returns and 11 counts of aiding and assisting in the filing of false tax returns for the 2007, 2008, and 2009 tax years. Court documents and evidence presented at trial showed that Joe co-owned and operated Edron Tax Professionals with his co-conspirator. From 2007 through 2010, Joe and his co-conspirator prepared tax returns for clients that falsely claimed employee business expenses and other unwarranted deductions. The false deductions allowed the co-conspirators to inflate clients’ refunds by thousands of dollars. Joe prepared the false tax returns with inflated refunds in order to grow his clientele.

The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Petrese B. Tucker for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Judge Tucker also sentenced Joe to three years of supervised release.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney McSwain commended agents of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Department of Justice Tax Division Trial Attorneys Christopher P. O’Donnell and Kathryn D. Sparks, who prosecuted the case.