Bronx Income Tax Preparer Sentenced for Conspiracy to Defraud the IRS

On March 8, 2013, Robert Owens, a Bronx income tax return preparer, was sentenced by a Manhattan federal judge to spend six months in home confinement and 12 months in community confinement for conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. He was also ordered to complete 500 hours of community service and to serve 5 years of probation.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Robert Owens worked as a professional income tax preparer for B&B Income Tax Services, a Bronx store-front tax preparation business. Owens was part of a tax fraud conspiracy in which employees of B&B Income Tax Services prepared thousands of fraudulent personal income tax returns which defrauded the Internal Revenue Service out of millions of dollars. Between 2004 and 2006, Owens helped his clients file tax returns that contained information entirely fabricated by him.

On October 25, 2012 Owens was convicted of the conspiracy charge after a jury trial.