A former Gulfport, Mississippi, tax return preparer was sentenced to 46 months in prison today for aiding and assisting in the preparation of false returns, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst for the Southern District of Mississippi.
According to documents and information provided to the court, Alvin Mays owned and operated City Tax Service, a return preparation business in the Gulfport, Mississippi, area. From 2012 through 2017, Mays prepared – and trained his employees to prepare – false tax returns. To fraudulently inflate client refunds, the returns claimed false education credits and losses from fictitious business. Mays charged his clients exorbitant preparation fees, sometimes as high as $1,600 per return. In all, Mays’s conduct caused a tax loss to the United States of more than $900,000.
In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Halil S. Ozerden ordered Mays to serve one year of supervised release and to pay $321,605 in restitution to the United States.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Hurst thanked special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorney Kevin Schneider of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stanley Harris, who prosecuted the case.
