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Press Release

Tax Return Preparer Pleads Guilty

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Texas

DALLAS — A man who owned a tax preparation business located in Dallas, Texas, Kevin Troy Jernigan, appeared in federal court Tuesday and pleaded guilty to one count of aiding or assisting in the preparation or presentation of a false or fraudulent individual income tax return, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.

Jernigan, faces a maximum statutory penalty of three years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.  Sentencing will be set at a later date. Following the plea, Jernigan was taken into custody following multiple violations of his pretrial release.

According to the factual resume filed in the case, since 2007, Jernigan was the owner and a return preparer at The Parks 11 located in Dallas, Texas.  During tax years 2007 through 2012, Jernigan prepared and filed more than 1,300 tax returns that contained false and inflated deductions and credits which were intended to produce a fraudulently inflated refund to be paid by the IRS. The fraudulently income tax returns caused a tax loss of approximately $2,250,780 to the United States Treasury.

The factual resume further states that in January 2010, Jernigan prepared and filed with the IRS a 2009 tax return on behalf of taxpayer, “CJ.”  In preparing and electronically filing that tax return, Jernigan included $27,019 as a Schedule C business loss. Jernigan knew CJ had not incurred the business loss reflected. As a result of the false deduction inserted by Jernigan, the refund was fraudulently inflated to $5,819 and resulted in a tax loss in the amount of $6,432.

IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Stokes is in charge of the prosecution.

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Updated July 13, 2016

Topic
Tax