Missouri Tax Preparer Pleads Guilty To Federal Tax Fraud Charges

KANSAS CITY, KAN. - A Missouri tax preparer has pleaded guilty to preparing false income tax returns resulting in a total tax loss of more than $316,000, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today.

Cynthia M. Raymond, Jackson, Mo., pleaded guilty to five counts of filing false tax returns and one count of aggravated identity theft. In her plea, she admitted submitting approximately 98 false tax returns under the names of 36 clients for the tax years 2007 through 2010. Her clients were not aware that she prepared returns including false deductions for business losses, charitable contributions, unreimbursed business expenses, medical expenses and false tax credits including education and residential energy credits.

She filed the returns electronically and provided her clients with different tax returns than she filed with the IRS. She routinely directed the Internal Revenue Service to deposit part of the refund to her clients’ accounts and to deposit the rest of the refund into her personal account.

Sentencing is set for Dec. 17. She faces a maximum penalty of 3 years in federal prison and a fine up to $100,000 on each count of filing a false tax return, and a maximum penalty of five years and fine up to $250,000 on the identity theft count. Grissom commended IRS-Criminal Investigation and Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Oakley for their work on the case.