Tax Preparer Sentenced to a Year for Not Paying Her Own Taxes
A Virginia woman was sentenced Thursday to one year and a day in prison for failing to pay her taxes. Willette J. Holland, owner of Tax Professionals, came under investigation starting in August 2014 regarding her taxes.
The IRS reached out to Holland, a tax preparer because she didn't file a personal tax return from 2010 to 2013. She filed a false return from the following years which underrepresented her projected income and business receipts. In addition, she didn't file tax returns from 2014 to 2016, even though she was required to by law.
In 2014, she deposited all of her earnings from Tax Professionals into a different bank account to avoid paying her taxes. As a result of the combined years of Holland avoiding to pay her taxes, she cost the IRS $177,000.
Along with her one-year prison sentence, Holland must also serve three years of supervised release, according to U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne.
Trial Attorney Francine Davis and Assistant Chief Michael Boteler of the Justice Department's Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kaitlin Cooke for the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case.
Tax evasion, also closely related to tax fraud, is the intentional act of concealing a certain amount of taxable income on an annual tax return. If a person doesn't file their tax return in a timely manner, then this is considered a tax crime. Also, unintentional calculation errors while filing is inadvertent tax evasion which can lead to fines and jail time.
Sixteen percent of all federal taxes go unpaid, according to the IRS. Also, tax fraud costs the American government $450 billion annually.
There's been widespread debate about the 1 percent being able to avoid paying taxes, as opposed to the average working-class American. On July 1, 2021, Allen Weisselberg, who served as Trump Organization CFO, was charged with evading taxes on more than $1.7 million in income. The Trump Organization and Trump Payroll were also charged as well.
Attorney General of New York Letitia James issued the following statement regarding the charges that were brought against Allen Weisselberg.
"This is an important marker in the ongoing criminal investigation of the Trump Organization and its CFO, Allen Weisselberg," said Attorney General James. "In the indictment, we allege, among other things, financial wrongdoing whereby the Trump Organization engaged in a scheme with Mr. Weisselberg to avoid paying taxes on certain compensation. This investigation will continue, and we will follow the facts and the law wherever they may lead."
