MICHIGAN MAN SENTENCED FOR PREPARING TAX RETURNS IN VIOLATION OF COURT ORDER

Tax Preparer Pleaded Guilty to Contempt of Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Robert L. Mosher, of Cedar Springs, Michigan, was sentenced to 105 days in prison for contempt of court after violating injunctions that barred him from preparing tax returns for customers, the Justice Department announced today. Mosher pleaded guilty to one count of a six-count indictment charging him with criminal contempt on November 16, 2005. The injunctions were obtained after the Justice Department sued Mosher in 2003, alleging that he promoted a tax scheme involving sham trusts and prepared fraudulent returns understating customers’ tax liabilities.

The injunction orders, entered on October 27, 2003 and March 15, 2004, each barred Mosher from providing tax services for compensation and acting as an income tax return preparer. The orders also prohibited him from promoting the sham-trust scam and representing customers before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Mosher’s guilty plea establishes that after these orders were entered, he prepared income tax returns, even though he knew doing so violated the injunctions.

“Honest taxpayers deserve the assurance that we are doing all we can to stop the promotion of tax fraud,” said Eileen J. O’Connor, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “When a court enjoins this illegal activity, we will take the action necessary to enforce the order.”

The injunctions violated by Mosher were obtained by the Department of Justice’s Tax Division after an investigation by the IRS’s Small Business/Self Employed Division. Information about the injunctions can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/txdv04165.htm.

The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan and attorneys of the Tax Division. The Tax Division and the IRS are currently engaged in a nationwide crackdown on those who prepare fraudulent tax returns and promote tax scams. Information on the initiative is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/taxpress2006.htm.

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06-084