Chris’ Corner
Halloween is over…or is it?
Halloween is over for us serfs, but the king is only ramping up his collections of taxes due. If you haven’t guessed, you and I are the serfs and the IRS is the king. Right now, the king is focused on a few specific projects.
First, if you owed taxes for past years and the IRS delayed collection due to the pandemic, they have turned the spigot on again. Millions of letters will be going out over the next few months. If you have moved, then you may be out of luck unless you sent in a change of address form to the IRS. Your IRS Notice may have gone to an old address, but in the eyes of the IRS you still received it.
Second, remember those stimulus payments? Millions who never filed thought it was free money and stumbled over themselves providing the IRS their banking information so they could get their $600 check. Well, it’s coming back to haunt them. The IRS now has your bank information, and just so you know, it’s criminal not to file when you have an obligation to do so.
Now is the time to right the wrongs. Don’t live in constant fear worrying what is around the corner. One client described to me that waiting for the IRS to knock on their door is like the haunted house that we all went through as kids. It’s true.
If you’re a non-filer, come and see us. Our staff specializes in helping non-filers get back into the system and in the good graces of the IRS, and then settling those past debts.
Click here to go directly to FRESH START TAX SOLUTIONS website: 
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Cryptocurrency Company Owners
Face 5 Years in Prison!
The founders of a cryptocurrency company, Bruce Bise and Samuel Mendez, pleaded guilty to tax evasion for a scheme that defrauded more than 13,000 investors of approximately 24 million dollars.
Bise and Mendez marketed their company, Bitqyck, and the company’s currency, Bitqy, as a way for “those individuals who missed out on Bitcoin” to get rich. Except they were the only ones who got rich.
The two men promised investors shares in a currency that never existed, and profited by diverting money from the company for their personal use. From 2016 to 2018 they used almost nine million dollars of investor money for personal expenses. This included multiple casino trips, cars, luxury home furnishings, art and rent.
In 2016 and 2017 Bise underreported his income to the IRS, resulting in a tax loss of $371,278. During the same period Mendez also underreported his income, resulting in a tax loss of $311,155. In 2018 the company failed to file a corporate tax return despite netting more than 3.5 million dollars from investors.
Both men face up to five years in prison.
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Instructor Fails to Learn
the Language of the IRS
Daniel Berglund, a self-employed computer language instructor, was convicted of four counts of tax evasion for failing to file taxes from 1987 to 2017. Berglund took many steps to hide his income from the IRS – including giving his clients a made up tax identification number to prevent payments to him from being reported to the IRS, depositing payments into accounts not in his name, and converting cash payments into silver, that he hid throughout his home.
Berglund’s tax evasion resulted in a tax debt of $146,806. He faces a maximum prison sentence of five years and up to $250,000 for each count of tax evasion.
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Money Grows on Trees
for Nursery Bookkeeper
The bookkeeper for a family owned tree nursery in North Carolina pleaded guilty to embezzling more than one million dollars over a six year period.
Richard Clark began working for the nursery in 2003, and in 2013 started writing checks to himself from the company. He covered his tracks by altering the check descriptions in Quickbooks. In 2016 Clark’s employer changed addresses and asked Clark to close one of the company’s bank accounts. Clark kept the account open and maintained the old address, which he gave to customers who were mailing checks to the company, and to receive bank correspondence. Clark then wrote himself checks from this account without his employer’s knowledge.
Clark used $50,000 of the stolen funds for a home theatre, $80,000 for his mortgage and $20,000 for a Ford F-250. In 2016 he excluded more than $21,000 from his personal income tax return and in 2017 did not file a return, creating a tax loss of $68,918.
Clark was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay $194,750 to the IRS, and $980,000 in restitution to his former employer.
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Tax Preparer Sentenced to Multiple Years
In Prison for Filing Multiple False Tax Returns
Damian Barrett, a Florida tax preparer, was convicted of filing 745 false tax returns in 19 states.
Barrett owned two tax preparation companies. He used one to file legitimate returns and the other to file false returns.
From 2015 to 2018 Barrett filed 348 false returns in the state of Oregon alone, requesting more than $322,000 in fraudulent refunds. The state paid out more than $130,000 in refunds as a result of these claims.
Barrett used names and social security numbers of various individuals, some of whom were his legitimate clients, to submit the false returns. He also set up bank accounts in the names of some of his victims in order to receive the refunds.
In total he sought almost $900,000 in refunds and received over $234,000 in fraudulent refunds.
Barrett was sentenced to 54 months in federal prison and to pay more than $234,000 in restitution to 11 state departments of revenue, and more than $74,000 to the IRS.
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This Couple’s Tax Fraud and
Money Laundering Scheme
Was Very Dirty
A couple from Maryland, James and Maureen Wilson, was indicted for conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, identity theft and filing a false tax return in connection with a life insurance scheme.
Starting in 1996 the Wilsons sought to obtain more than 30 life insurance policies worth more than 20 million dollars on behalf of applicants. The policies were obtained using false information, including the amount of the applicant’s existing life insurance coverage, the applicant’s health and the applicant’s income.
The Wilsons later forged the signatures of the life insurance applicants and made themselves the beneficiaries of the policies. As a result, they received more than 8 million dollars in life insurance proceeds.
In order to launder and conceal these funds, the Wilsons controlled multiple bank accounts, some in their names and several with nominee owners.
In 2018 and 2019 they filed false tax returns and failed to report millions of dollars of illegally obtained life insurance proceeds.
If convicted they each face over 20 years in prison.
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A Message from our Client:
"Extremely satisfied with Fresh Start Tax Solutions. Staff was very friendly and the service was excellent. Chris has been helping me with my tax issues for ten years and finally got it resolved with zero owed
to the IRS! Thank you again Chris Micklatcher and company."
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Investors Duped in Hotel Scam
Christopher Ciccone, a New Jersey businessman who was previously convicted of wire fraud and filing a false tax return, was arrested for defrauding investors of more than one million dollars.
Ciccone lured prospective investors with the notion that his company was reserving blocks of rooms at luxury hotels, which would later be resold at a profit.
He promised investors returns between 15 and 50 percent within one to six months. His scheme generated 1.5 million dollars from 22 investors.
In reality, Ciccone never booked any hotel rooms. He used $120,000 of the investors’ money to pay early investors and to fund a lavish lifestyle. He spent $54,000 on a BMW, $235,000 on clothes, wine and other personal items and made more than $216,000 in cash withdrawals.
Ciccone failed to include this money on his tax returns, and faces up to 20 years in prison and a 5 million dollar fine.
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