Return Preparer and Former Owner of National Tax Preparation Franchise Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion

A Georgia man pleaded guilty today to evading the proper assessment of his personal federal income taxes.

According to court documents, from 1999 to 2021, Samir Patel of Statesboro, Georgia, was a tax return preparer at a national return preparation business. In 2015, Patel purchased a franchise of the business in Claxton, Georgia. As the owner, he hired, trained and supervised tax preparers, and continued to prepare returns for customers. Patel, however, willfully filed false income tax returns that underreported his income and evaded proper assessment of his personal taxes for years 2015, 2016, and 2017.

He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, as well as a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. U.S. District Court Chief Judge J. Randal Hall for the Southern District of Georgia will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Jill E. Steinberg for the Southern District of Georgia made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Matthew C. Hicks and Richard J. Hagerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. Harper III of the Southern District of Georgia are prosecuting the case.