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Press Release

Tax Return Preparer Sentenced to Three Years in Federal Prison

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Texas

DALLAS — Kevin Troy Jernigan, who owned a tax preparation business in Dallas, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey to 36 months in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $112,000 in restitution, following his guilty plea in July 2016 to one count of aiding or assisting in the preparation or presentation of a false or fraudulent individual income tax return, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.

Jernigan was taken into custody when he entered his guilty plea to the tax offense because of committing multiple violations of his pretrial release.

According to the factual resume filed in the case, since 2007, Jernigan was the owner and a return preparer at The Parks 11 located in Dallas.  During tax years 2007 through 2012, Jernigan prepared and filed more than 1,300 tax returns that contained false and inflated deductions and credits which were intended to produce a fraudulently inflated refund to be paid by the IRS. The fraudulently income tax returns caused a tax loss of approximately $2,250,780 to the United States Treasury.

The factual resume further states that in January 2010, Jernigan prepared and filed with the IRS a 2009 tax return on behalf of taxpayer, “CJ.”  In preparing and electronically filing that tax return, Jernigan included $27,019 as a Schedule C business loss. Jernigan knew CJ had not incurred the business loss reflected. As a result of the false deduction inserted by Jernigan, the refund was fraudulently inflated to $5,819 and resulted in a tax loss in the amount of $6,432.

IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Stokes was in charge of the prosecution.

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Updated November 29, 2016

Topic
Tax