Warren County, New Jersey, Tax Preparer Charged With Tax Fraud And Defrauding Banks

NEWARK – A Warren County, New Jersey, tax preparer was arrested this morning and charged with allegedly filing false returns on behalf of his clients and misappropriating clients’ funds, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Brian Allen Day, 54, of Port Murray, New Jersey, was indicted by a federal grand jury on four counts of aiding and assisting in the filing of false individual income tax returns for clients and four counts of defrauding banks by misappropriating clients’ funds based on misrepresentations about their purported tax payments owed to the IRS and by altering checks they paid to him for the purported tax liabilities and depositing the checks in his business bank accounts. He will appear this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Falk in Newark federal court.

According to the indictment:

Day is self-employed as a tax preparer and has various tax preparation businesses in New Jersey, such as PTS, Tax Consultants, and Tax Consultants LLC. For the tax years 2013 to 2015, Day prepared false individual income tax returns for various clients by fabricating and inflating expenses and deductions on Schedule A or supplemental loss deductions on Schedule E of their Form 1040s in order to obtain refunds in amounts greater than those to which they were entitled. The total amount of false deductions and expenses charged in the indictment is $383,773.

Additionally, from December 2011 through April 2015, Day misappropriated some of his taxpayer clients’ monies by falsely advising them that they owed certain tax payments to the IRS; directing his clients to give him checks made payable to the IRS to resolve these purported liabilities with the IRS; altering the checks made payable to the IRS to make them appear to be payable to Day’s tax preparation businesses; and then depositing the checks into his business bank accounts without making any payment to the IRS on behalf of the clients. By doing so, Day defrauded the financial institutions from which these checks were drawn. Day presented his clients with fraudulent documents purportedly issued by the IRS falsely stating that it had received payments for the purported liabilities. Day misappropriated $61,000 from his clients.

Each count of aiding and assisting in the filing of false tax returns carries a maximum potential penalty of three years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross pecuniary gain or loss from the fraud. The bank fraud charges each carry a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan D. Larsen; and special agents of the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) under the direction of Rodney A. Davis, with the investigation leading to the indictment.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jihee G. Suh of the General Crimes Unit in Newark.

Anyone who believes they may have been a victim of this defendant can contact IRS-Criminal Investigation at (732) 761-6439.

The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Defense Counsel: Assistant Federal Public Defender Lisa Mack Esq., Newark