A Denver man was found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the IRS and false statements, officials said Friday.
Austin Ray, 48, owned and operated a fraudulent tax preparation business, Cheapertaxes LLC, where they “played with the numbers” to obtain inflated tax refunds for their clients, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.
Ray and co-conspirator Anne Rasamee used the proceeds from their business on living expenses for their family and to purchase luxury items, including a used Bentley and a used Maserati they bought for $140,000 in cash.
Ray was convicted Wednesday in U.S. District of Colorado on one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., two counts of assisting in the preparation of false income tax returns and two counts of signing and submitting his own false tax returns, the release said.
Rasamee pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States on Jan. 20, 2015.
Clients were typically charged a flat fee of $200 to $250 for the return preparation, the release said. This would be taken out of the taxpayer’s refund if they could not pay it at the time of the preparation, meaning the refund would be deposited into the Cheapertaxes bank account.
A third party who had not prepared the fraudulent tax return would be listed as the return preparer to further hide the scheme.
“This is a prime example of a return preparer you want to avoid,” said Stephen Boyd, special agent in charge for IRS criminal investigation, Denver field office. “As we approach filing season, choose carefully when hiring a tax preparer and avoid tax preparers who claim they can obtain larger refunds than other preparers.”
Elizabeth Hernandez: 303-954-1223, ehernandez@denverpost.com or @ehernandez
