Detroit man admitted preparing false returns that generated millions in claims.
A Detroit man has pleaded guilty to taking part in a tax fraud scheme that resulted in more than $7 million in false refund claims, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Rodney Underwood entered his guilty plea after federal investigators found that he prepared more than 200 false tax returns for clients in the Detroit area. The returns were submitted to the Internal Revenue Service with information designed to make the clients appear eligible for refunds they had not actually earned.
Court records show that the Detroit man prepared the returns in a way that made them appear to have been completed by the taxpayers themselves. The paid preparer section was left blank, a practice known as “ghost preparing.” This allowed the returns to appear self-prepared even though Underwood had completed them for the clients. The scheme involved tax returns from people in different parts of Detroit, according to the Department of Justice.
The false returns included made-up amounts for dividend income and federal tax withholding. Those figures were used to create large refunds that the taxpayers were not entitled to receive. More than $7 million in fraudulent refunds were claimed through the returns. The government ultimately lost about $6.2 million as a result of the scheme. Underwood also failed to report the money he received for preparing the false returns as income on his own tax returns,...
Detroit man admitted preparing false returns that generated millions in claims. A Detroit man has pleaded guilty to taking part in a tax fraud scheme that resulted in more than $7 million in false...