Detroit man sentenced for false tax returns

Maurice Kelly, 31, of Detroit, has been sentenced to a year in prison for assisting in the preparation false federal tax returns. United States District Court Judge Bernard A. Friedman also ordered Kelly to pay restitution of $85,491 and to cooperate with the IRS. In April 2011, Kelly was indicted on federal charges for assisting in the preparation of and making false statements on federal tax returns. In July 2011, Kelly pleaded guilty to those charges. According to court records, between 2005 and 2009, Maurice Kelly worked as a tax return preparer for Datatron Tax Services and Instant Tax Service, both located in Detroit. Kelly filed 32 false tax returns with the IRS by including false Schedule ''A'' deductions on his clients tax returns. He intentionally did this to reduce the amount of taxes his clients owed the IRS and or to increase their refund. The false deductions included inflating medical expenses, charitable contributions, non-refundable employee expenses, and student loan interest expenses. In addition, Kelly would sell his clients the names and Social Security numbers of people who would be fraudulently included as dependents on their 1040 tax return. Kelly purposely did this to reduce the amount of taxes his clients owed and or to increase their refund. The total tax loss to the federal government was more than $85,000 and Kelly was ordered to pay that back in restitution. ''Every tax return preparer has a high level of responsibility to their clients,'' said Martinez. ''No one, to include Maurice Kelly, is entitled to an unjust windfall of taxpayer dollars.'' Published: Mon, May 7, 2012