Plover Tax Preparer Pleads Guilty to Filing Client Tax Returns with Falsely Inflated Deductions

MADISON, WIS. - Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that on Friday, April 22, James Canfield, 72, Plover, Wisconsin, pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to aiding in the preparation of false tax returns filed with the Internal Revenue Service.  Canfield will be sentenced on September 14, 2022.  He faces a maximum penalty of 3 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. 

Canfield owned and operated Advanced Accounting Concepts, Inc., a business located in Plover.  As part of his business, Canfield prepared tax returns for third parties in exchange for a fee.  Between 2013 and 2018, on behalf of clients, Canfield prepared and electronically submitted tax returns to the IRS with exaggerated business expenses and unjustified deductions for the business use of clients’ homes.  This false information fraudulently reduced the amount of taxes his clients owed. Despite being told by clients that they primarily used their homes as their personal residence, Canfield attributed 100% of their home for business, then took home expenses as deductible business expenses. 

Canfield previously has been fined on two separate occasions by the IRS for preparing returns with unjustified business expenses and claiming personal living expenses as business deductions.  As a consequence of the plea, Canfield will also be permanently prohibited from preparing and filing federal tax returns for other persons.

The charge against Canfield is the result of an investigation conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert A. Anderson and Meredith Duchemin are handling the prosecution.