A Salisbury man has been sentenced to a year in jail for preparing fraudulent tax returns.
Bobby Terrill Parks was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Greensboro. He must also pay $140,215 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service, a judge ordered.
After his active prison sentence, Parks will spend one year on supervised probation with six months of home confinement.
Parks faced up to three years in prison after pleading guilty in September to one count of a 16-count indictment.
Federal authorities said he cost the IRS nearly $167,000 between 2005 and 2007 by filing false tax returns claiming clients were due larger refunds than they were entitled to receive.
Parks worked for Rapid Tax on Jake Alexander Boulevard when the returns were filed. According to the court filings, he prepared at least 2,170 returns for tax years 2004-07.
An analysis of many of the returns by the Internal Revenue Serviceís Fraud Detection Center ěrevealed deductions and credits that were statistically improbable,î according to a filing supporting the plea agreement prosecutors reached with Parks.
IRS agents flagged 55 returns prepared by Parks and interviewed the clients for whom he prepared them. ěThe taxpayers confirmed that Parks had made false claims on their returns for charitable contributions, education credits, job expenses and other items,î prosecutors said in the filing.
One couple interviewed by IRS investigators said they didnít know Parks had claimed a deduction on their 2006 return for $8,231 in charitable giving. The couple told the agents they advised Parks they had given $200 to charity that year.
All 16 counts of fraud a federal grand jury indicted Parks of involved overstating charitable giving on returns prepared between February 2005 and February 2007. He pleaded guilty to the count involving the false $8,231 charitable giving deduction.