TNT might be a dynamite name for a business—until it blows up in your face. Believe it or not, TNT Taxes is the name of a firm that advertised tax preparation services specializing in individual taxes and “amendments,” according to a report by the Capital Gazette. But things went kaboom! when the owner of the business was caught filing dozens of fraudulent income tax returns. (Yep, the irony of these stories blows my mind some days.)
The 43-year-old woman, who owned a Maryland tax preparation company, was caught carrying out a false tax refund scheme that bilked the Internal Revenue Service out of more than $330,000. Ultimately, she pleaded guilty to aiding in the preparation of filing false tax returns, for intentionally including false information on tax returns that she prepared on behalf of clients, whom she had solicited with promises of specialized skills in “amendments.” (Amending the truth, as it turned out.)
In total, she admitted to filing 29 false claims in 2011 that included fudged or inflated numbers around the personal property or real estate taxes of clients, including an undercover federal agent with the IRS Criminal Investigation Division. (Cue any classic clip of the Coyote blowing up himself instead of the Road Runner.) Now she must serve a year plus one day in federal prison, followed by a year of supervised release.
But there is truly nothing comical about committing fraud, which has a nasty habit of backfiring.
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