Tyler, Texas, Tax Preparer Sentenced for Filing False Tax Returns

WASHINGTON -- Charles Hollie, a resident of Tyler, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael H. Schneider to 24 months in prison for filing false tax returns, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.  Judge Schneider also ordered Charles Hollie to pay $84,668 in restitution to the IRS and to serve one year of supervised release.  Hollie was indicted for aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns on April 7, 2010, and subsequently pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns on November 9, 2010. 

According to the indictment, plea agreement and other court documents, between 2004 and 2007, Hollie worked as an independent contractor at the Tyler and Athens offices of Preferred Choice Income Tax, holding himself out to the public as a Tax Consultant and expert in preparing individual income tax returns.  Hollie prepared more than 1,300 returns that claimed fictitious itemized deductions, home businesses, Earned Income Credits and–in the case of each return for the 2006 tax year–inflated telephone excise tax refund (TETR) credits, a one-time credit available to taxpayers to refund excise taxes paid on long distance and bundled service for the 41-month period from February 2003 to August 2006.

John A. DiCicco, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and John M. Bales, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas commended the IRS Criminal Investigation special agents who investigated the case as well as Tax Division Trial Attorney Pete Madriñan and Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregg Marchessault, who prosecuted the case.

Additional information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division and its enforcement efforts can be found at www.usdoj.gov/tax .