A CPA based in Spokane, Wash., has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for filing bogus corporate income tax returns. Roger Stadtmueller, who owned Stadtmueller & Associates, must also pay $400,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service for understating income for his firm's parent company, by roughly $1.8 million for corporate returns for 2006, 2007 and 2008.The accounting firm offered a full range of services, including income tax preparation. Stadtmueller pleaded guilty on July 26 to three counts of fraud for under-reporting gross receipts for Zazz, the parent to the accounting firm, which he also owned.
Stadtmueller must also serve one year of supervised release. The prison term he received compares to a maximum of 22 years and $1 million in fines he could have received.
His LinkedIn profile shows he has operated the firm since July 2001. Washington press accounts say the accounting firm was sold in 2014. They also say Stadtmueller filed for bankruptcy in 2013 and that he also had a bankruptcy filing in 1999. The lattr action followed the crash of a hot air balloon in which a passenger was killed. Stadtmueller owned and operated the balloon company.
