BOSTON - A Granby, Mass. accountant pleaded guilty Friday, June 24, 2016, in U.S. District Court in Worcester in connection with filing false tax returns.
James Lowe, 53, pleaded guilty to three counts of filing false corporate tax returns for his accounting business and three counts of filing false personal income tax returns from 2011 to 2013. U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman scheduled sentencing for Oct. 17, 2016.
Lowe was the owner of an accounting and tax return preparation business in Chicopee. Lowe under-reported his income on both his corporate and personal income tax returns by not disclosing certain checks generated from his accounting business. Lowe cashed some of these checks and he deposited some of them into his personal bank account, rather than the business bank account. The false tax returns resulted in more than $118,000 in tax loss.
The charging statutes provides a sentence of no greater than three years in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of $100,000. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Joel P. Garland, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Grant of Ortiz’s Springfield Branch Unit.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
