A Jacksonville, Fla.-based tax preparer faces 59 counts that stem from alleged tax return fraud over a four-year period. The preparer, Kenyan Shondre Scott, has been indicted on 55 counts of aiding and assisting others with the filing of false tax returns and four counts of filing false tax returns on his own behalf.
Each count carries a maximum of three years imprisonment. The United States will seek restitution for tax losses, although the total was not spelled out.
Scott is accused of filing returns that had itemized deductions for which clients were not eligible, reporting non-existent business losses and fraudulently claiming general business credits and education credits for clients between February 2014 and April 2018. The indictment specifies that he allegedly filed 55 false returns for 13 taxpayers for tax years 2013 through 2017.
Scott is also accused of reporting fake wages and a disproportionate amount of taxes being withheld from purported wages, trying to lower the amount of taxes owed by clients. He also lowballed income on his own returns. The indictment charges he under-reported income by roughly $635,000, most of it under-reported business income.
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
Last modified on Monday, 16 March 2020
