Michigan Tax Return Preparer Pleads Guilty to Preparing False Returns

A Michigan man pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan today to one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. 

Royal Alexander Jr., 51, who owned and operated Royal Publishing Inc., in Flint, Michigan, admitted that from 2010 through 2015, he willfully aided in the preparation and filing of 40 false individual income tax returns.  According to the information, these returns were false in that they included inflated or entirely fictitious Schedules C; claimed a false dependent; claimed a false IRA deduction; falsely claimed Head of Household status for a client; and/or claimed a false education credit, all to produce larger refunds.

Alexander’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 20.  He faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison and agreed in his plea to pay $98,605 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  Alexander also faces financial penalties and a term of supervised release. 

Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Trial Attorneys Jeffrey A. McLellan and Abigail B. Chingos of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting this case.

Additional information about the Tax Division’s enforcement efforts can be found on the division’s website.