A Yeadon, Pa.-based tax preparer, who was banned from the business in 2012, has been found guilty on a variety of tax-related offenses. Deron Joe and his then-business partner Edmund G. Dassin were accused of using a variety of fake deductions to hike client refunds. Joe also faces a maximum fine of $1.35 million for all counts.
Joe was convicted of one count of conspiring to defraud the United States by filing false tax returns and preparing false tax returns that generated inflated refunds for his clients and 11 counts of aiding and assisting in the filing of false tax returns. Sentencing has been scheduled for January 3.
Joe and Dassin were banned from the business, along with James Tokpawhiea for their actions as a part of Philadelphia, Pa.-based Edron Tax Professionals. They moved the business to Collingdale, Pa., and changed the name to Urban Tax Professionals in 2011. The three are Liberian nationals with most of their clients also from Liberia.
Evidence presented from 2007 through 2010, Joe made up false Forms 2106, Unreimbursed Employee Business Expenses, and placed the false deductions on the tax returns to inflate clients’ refunds by thousands of dollars. Joe prepared false tax returns with inflated refunds in order to grow his tax preparation business.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind