Carroll County Man Pleads Guilty to Filing a False Federal Tax Return

Jackson, TN – Joshua "Josh" Lynn Hicks, 32 of Huntingdon, Tennessee appeared before Judge J. Daniel Breen and entered a guilty plea to filing false tax returns. U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant announced the guilty plea today.

According to the indictment, in 2015, Hicks was the owner of J. Hicks Appliances in Huntingdon, Tennessee, and Appliances and More in Lexington, Tennessee. Responsible for the business record keeping, he willfully underreported the businesses’ gross receipts by $98,031 for the taxable year of 2015. Hicks also filed false U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns by underreporting gross receipts on his Schedule C, profit or loss from business in 2012, 2013, and 2014, which resulted in an underreporting of income in the total amount of $335,000.00, which had a corresponding negative impact on the ability of the U.S. Treasury to accurately and completely collect income taxes due from the defendant for that 4 year period.

On November 13, 2018, a federal grand jury in Jackson, Tennessee returned a four-count indictment against Hicks for filing False and Fraudulent statements on Income Tax Returns for the years of 2012-2015. On March 27, 2019, Hicks pleaded guilty to one count of the indictment for calendar year 2015.

U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant said: "Protection of the United States Treasury is a core value and critical mission for this office and the Department of Justice. Income tax evasion and fraud strike at the very heart of our federal government’s financial ability to provide services and protection for our citizens, and will not be tolerated."

Hicks faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in federal prison, a period of supervised release, and monetary penalties. As part of the plea agreement, Hicks will pay restitution in the amount of $95,210 to the United States. Sentencing is set for June 27, 2019, before United States District Court Judge J. Daniel Breen.

The Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, investigated this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Wilson prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.