Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 24, 1990 TAG: 9003242404
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A8 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Officials said an investigation conducted by the Internal Revenue Service revealed that between January and April 1988, Phyllis J. Walker, Jerry D. King, Kenneth T. Moore, Marilyn A. O'Neil, Pamela Akridge, Kathy L. Hairston and Eugene Word filed 17 false claims for refunds with the Memphis, Tenn., Internal Revenue Center.
The indictments charge the individuals with filing false claims with refunds ranging from $405 to $1,894.
A news release issued by U.S. Attorney John Perry Alderman said the seven individuals tried to defraud the government through the use of tax discounters. Tax discounters purchase tax returns for a portion of the refund.
Ten discounters were identified as being used by the seven people. The discounters paid from two-thirds to three-quarters of the refund due for the returns, then agreed to file the returns.
The discounters changed the address on the returns to reflect their own address so the IRS would mail the refund checks to them. The checks never arrived, however, because a questionable-refund detection team at the Memphis center identified the returns as possibly fraudulent and forwarded the information to criminal investigation authorities.
To file the false claims for refund, the seven people secured duplicate copies of their own or each other's W-2 forms and used one or a combination of these duplicates to file additional returns through the 10 discounters, officials said.
"This investigation typifies just one of the problems that can arise from tax discounting," said G. Thorn McDaniel, IRS chief of the Criminal Investigation Division in Richmond. "Multiple-filer schemes often use tax discounters to facilitate their criminal activities. While discounting itself is not illegal, it is illegal for a discounter to negotiate a check made out to another person."
The seven people face maximum sentences ranging from $250,000 and five years' imprisonment to $1 million and 20 years' imprisonment.
by CNB