Man Pleads Guilty In Filing Hundreds Of Fraudulent Tax Returns

UPPER MARLBORO, MD — A 64-year-old Upper Marlboro man has pleaded guilty to preparing and filing false and fraudulent tax returns.

According to court documents, Charles Anthony Keemer prepared U.S. individual income tax returns for clients in exchange for fees even though he was not registered as a tax preparer with any federal, state or local regulator. He also had no education or work experience in preparing and filing tax reports and did not report income earned from the tax preparation business on his own income tax returns.

According to the plea agreement, during the tax years 2013 through 2016, Keemer prepared and submitted to the IRS hundreds of income tax returns on behalf of his clients. He prepared and submitted his clients’ income tax returns electronically through online tax preparation software, typically from locations in Maryland. Keemer met with clients at various locations in Maryland to receive payment for the tax returns that he prepared, as well.

Keemer added false items to the income tax returns he prepared for his clients for the purpose of fraudulently increasing the size of the tax refund returned by the IRS to the clients. Such materially false items included, among other things, fictitious Schedule C businesses and false, fraudulent and fictious expenses. In total, the tax loss caused to the IRS as a direct result of Keemer’s actions for the relevant tax years was approximately $128,691.

Keemer faces a maximum sentence of three years in federal prison for aiding and assisting in the preparation and filing of false tax returns.