Former IRS agent convicted of filing false tax returns
Posted by AccountingWEB in Tax, Watchdog, Bad Guys News on 08/19/2009 - 01:15
Anthony Pendleton, a former revenue officer at the IRS and owner of a tax preparation business in Inglewood, CA, was convicted last week of conspiracy to defraud the United States by filing false tax returns and faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum fine of the greater of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss. Sentencing will occur on November 23.
Pendleton, age 58, and two of his employees, Christopher Michael Edwards, 38, and Asha Delilah Lenard, 27, were accused of falsifying employment income and dependents for clients of Pendleton's Payless Tax Services in an attempt to claim improper refunds from the IRS. According to the legal newswire, LAWFUEL, the co-conspirators would add fictitious information to tax returns in an effort to claim such benefits as education tax credits or the Earned income Tax Credit. It is unclear whether the taxpayer/clients whose returns were filed by the group were aware of the scheme.
Pendleton was arrested in February, 2008. He had been a revenue officer with the IRS for 14 years. The two Payless employees have pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge.
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Greed Breeds from IRS Years
Greed breeds from IRS Years
This is actually very typical of employee theft. A security theft officer from a bankrupt Frederick and Nelson department store in Seattle, Washington and serviccing the Pacific Northwest told me a little story about theft.
1) Within the first two or three years an employee will think that they have not worked at a location long enough for things to matter if they get caught. Street sweeper job for another government agency or grass cutting if they are lucky would be the next job which they might enjoy. For most the likelihood might be a dishwasher if they are lucky.
2) Then after about twelve years the thinking is "I have worked hard and deserve some better form of compensation." This is actually the amount of time spent which the security officer found the employee stealing to have worked. In the IRS situation the employees probably thought that they too would deserve some compenstion and could better suite themselves outside of the IRS eyes and observation. Too bad.
3) Then after twenty years the thinking is pretty close to the same as the number 2. I have put my soul into this company and my pension is vested. A little bit extra is due me.
In all of these scenarios they are not realizing that security is aware of the times spent and the habits of employees. Obviously not everyone does this. And probably no one realizes that if they have pensions which have not vested then the company can take those amounts back and not pay those pension amounts out. If everyone would abide by the system then our federal government purse would be balanced and all would have more money to spend.