North Richland Hills Man Sentenced To 36 Months In Federal Prison For Preparing And Submitting False Income Tax Returns That Resulted In Over A $1 Million Loss To IRS

DALLAS — A defendant who admitted causing false income tax returns to be filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was sentenced today, announced Acting U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.

Michael Lloyd Moody was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Barbara M. G. Lynn to 36 months in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution to the IRS.

Moody was indicted in March 2013 on 16 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false and fraudulent individual income tax returns. He pleaded guilty in December 2013 to two of those counts. He was on pretrial release until October 2013 when the Court found he had violated its terms and conditions and remanded him into custody.

According to the factual resume filed in the case, from 2009 through 2010, Moody prepared U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns, Form 1040, along with supporting schedules, at his residence in North Richland Hills, Texas. After meeting his customers, Moody would deliver the completed returns to Universal Tax, located at 415 East Airport Freeway in Irving, Texas, to be electronically filed with the IRS. Universal Tax was assigned an Electronic Filing Identification Number (EFIN) by the IRS authorizing the electronic filing of tax returns.

Moody admits, according to the factual resume, that he inserted false or inflated deductions and credits to produce fraudulent refunds for the IRS to pay.

As an example noted in the factual resume, in one instance, on approximately March 1, 2010, Moody prepared and caused to be filed an individual tax return for a particular individual. In preparing the Form 1040, Moody knowingly, and with the intent to deceive the IRS, included $37,044 as a Schedule C business loss and $2,349 on Form 8863 as an education credit due the individual. In reality, however, this individual did not own a Schedule C business, nor did he incur education expenses for the education credit. Due to the false deduction and credit inserted by Moody, the refund was inflated and resulted in a loss to the government of $7,906.

The investigation was conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Stokes prosecuted.