Woman Sentenced For Preparing A False Income Tax Return

HOUSTON - Miranda Gore has been ordered to prison for willfully aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of a false U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced today along with Lucy Cruz, special agent in charge of IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). Gore pleaded guilty Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012.

Today, U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison, who accepted the guilty plea, handed Gore a sentence of 30 months which will be followed by a year of supervised release. Gore agreed at the time of her plea that the relevant conduct for purposes of sentencing in this case is $280,150, which includes the tax loss on the false income tax returns she prepared and the tax loss to the United States on her own 2008 and 2009 U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns. Today, Judge Ellison ordered she pay that amount in restitution.

According to the plea agreement entered in the record of the case, Gore admitted that on the income tax return in question, she willfully claimed a false loss from an alleged interior design business that the taxpayer never had. Gore also admitted she willfully placed on the return a false claim for a First Time Homebuyer’s Credit that the taxpayer was not entitled to claim. Gore admitted that the tax loss to the United States on the false return was $9,352.

Gore further acknowledged she gave the taxpayer client a purported copy of the tax return she prepared differing from the return Gore electronically filed for the taxpayer with the IRS. The return filed with the IRS claimed a tax refund of $9,554, whereas the one given the taxpayer claimed a tax refund of only $2,054. Gore admitted she arranged for the tax refund claimed from the IRS to be put on a cash card. Gore then gave the taxpayer a check for $4,180 for the refund and kept the remainder of the funds on the cash card for herself.

Gore was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

This matter was investigated by IRS-CI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles J. Escher.