Roanoke Tax Return Preparer Pleads Guilty to Aiding in the Preparation of False Tax Returns

Roanoke, VIRGINIA – A tax return preparer formerly of Roanoke, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns and filing a false personal tax return, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Thomas T. Cullen for the Western District of Virginia.

According to court documents, Saint Julien Pierre owned and operated a tax return preparation business, JP Tax Services LLC, in Roanoke, Virginia. Pierre aided and assisted in the preparation of 2013 and 2014 tax returns that falsely claimed energy-related credits and illegitimate itemized deductions, in order to fraudulently increase his clients’ refunds. Pierre also filed a false 2013 tax return for himself, on which he fraudulently reported that he was entitled to the same fuel tax credit he falsely claimed on his clients’ returns.

“As this case indicates, the Department of Justice is committed to prosecuting tax fraud, including bogus refund, credit, and deduction schemes,” U.S. Attorney Cullen stated today.  “No preparation fee, commission, or refund earned through fraudulent means is worth a felony conviction and the possibility of a prison sentence.”  

Pierre faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison for each count of preparing false tax returns and three years in prison for the false tax return count. He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties. 

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Cullen thanked special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Tax Division Trial Attorneys Lauren A. Archer and Kevin Schneider and Assistant United States Attorney Charlene R. Day of the Western District of Virginia, who are prosecuting the case.