A Jacksonville tax preparer was sentenced to federal prison for helping clients receive undeserved refunds from the IRS by providing incorrect tax information to the government.
Adrian George, 41, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan to 15 months in federal prison for conspiring to commit wire fraud and conspiring to aid in the preparation and presentation of fraudulent tax returns.
He also was found guilty of five counts of aiding in the preparation and presentation of fraudulent tax returns.
A federal jury rendered its verdict April 11.
According to court documents, George was the owner and operator of Professional Tax Service South LLC, a tax preparation firm at 1825 N. Myrtle Ave.
He taught his employees ways to include false information in tax returns to ensure that his clients received large tax refunds.
Acting at George’s direction, the employees offered to prepare fraudulent or “boosted” returns for clients in exchange for cash payments from the proceeds of the resulting illegitimate tax refunds.
After being in business for less than two years, George and his employees had prepared and filed 748 tax returns for clients, 100 percent of which requested refunds.
The tax returns prepared and filed by George and his employees requested refunds totaling more than $3.2 million.
Based on national statistics, only 62 percent of filed tax returns request refunds, according to testimony at the trial.
The state Division of Corporations listed Professional Tax Service South inactive by administrative dissolution in September 2012 when the corporation failed to file the required annual report.
This case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Coolican.