Former Washington, D.C.-Area Accountant Sentenced to Prison for Tax Fraud

The Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today that John T. Hoang, of Woodbridge, Va., was sentenced in federal district court in Washington, D.C., for willfully aiding and assisting in the preparation of false income tax returns for the 2004 tax year.  U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon sentenced Hoang to serve 48 months in prison, 24 months of supervised release and 240 hours of community service.  Judge Leon also ordered him to pay $331,896 in restitution to the IRS.  Hoang previously pled guilty on July 31, 2013. 

According to court documents and statements made in court, Hoang was a certified public accountant (CPA) and an attorney.  From January 2005 through April 2007, Hoang operated John T. Hoang CPA, a tax return preparation business,, and was one of two partners who owned Tax-Smart Technology Services.  Hoang operated these businesses from various locations in Washington, D.C., and Fairfax, Va.  In 2008, a federal district court in Virginia barred Hoang from preparing federal tax returns.

As alleged in court documents, in his capacity as a tax return preparer, Hoang prepared and supervised the preparation of client tax returns to be filed with the IRS and various state taxing authorities.  For the tax years 2004, 2005 and 2006, Hoang prepared hundreds of U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns and earned substantial income from his tax preparation activities.  Hoang further received a substantial portion of the refunds issued by the IRS to his clients through his businesses.  Despite earning revenue through his businesses of approximately $1 million in 2004; $2 million in 2005; and $3 million in 2006, Hoang failed to file any federal income tax returns or pay any federal income taxes for himself or his businesses during this time.

Hoang admitted that he prepared and caused the preparation of false and fraudulent 2004, 2005 and 2006 income tax returns for his clients.  When preparing these false tax returns and related schedules for his clients, Hoang created wholly fictitious business income and expenses for what seemed to be a technology licensing business.  The false information resulted in the client-taxpayers reporting fake losses from business activity and receiving either refunds larger than those they were entitled or decreases in the amount of taxes due.  Hoang admitted that the tax loss caused by certain false returns he prepared was greater than $30,000 per return, and that he prepared at least 24 such false returns for the 2004 through 2006 tax years. 

As part of the plea agreement, Hoang admitted that the total tax loss caused by his criminal conduct is greater than $1.5 million.

The case was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation and was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Jorge Almonte and Jeffrey B. Bender of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.