A tax preparer who operated from Jacksonville, N.C., between 2012 and 2018, has been sentenced to three years in prison for preparing false tax returns. Gene Hersholt Williamson II was also ordered to pay $637,000 in restitution.
In addition, Williamson did not file any returns for himself for 2012 through 2017. His actions resulted in a loss of $550,000 in taxes.
Williamson was convicted of one count aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return. For those with minimal income, Williamson created fictitious Schedule C businesses. If clients had substantial wage income, he claimed significant expenses in order to qualify them for the earned income tax credit.
The preparer took 10 percent of refunds as payment and his also did not list himself as the paid return preparer on returns he prepared.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind