Mississippi Tax Return Preparer Pleads Guilty to Obstructing the IRS and Filing False Returns | WPN World People News

A Gulfport, Mississippi tax return preparer on April 10th, pleaded guilty to obstructing the internal revenue laws and aiding in the preparation of a false tax return, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Harold Brittain for the Southern District of Mississippi.

According to documents filed with the court and information presented at the plea hearing, Doris Kelley, 65, of Gulfport, Mississippi, operated a tax return preparation business from her home in Gulfport. Kelley instructed several of her clients, who owed income taxes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), to write payment checks directly to her rather than to the IRS. Kelley kept these funds for herself and used most of the money to gamble at local casinos. Typically, Kelley provided copies of accurate returns to her clients, but then did not file any return with the IRS. In some cases, she also filed false returns in her clients’ names without their knowledge. Kelley made hundreds of thousands of dollars from her scheme and caused a tax loss of more than $495,000.

The sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 7. Kelley faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison on both counts. She also faces a term of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice