The Justice Department tax division in the Middle District of North Carolina sentenced a former Internal Revenue Service officer to 43 months in prison for tax avoidance and going against US tax laws.
How taxes were evaded
Henti Baird operated HL Baird’s Tax Consultants from the year 1989 to the year 2014. He also previously worked at IRS for 12 years. He used his experience at IRS to evade taxes when he was working as a private practitioner.
He was sentenced for not paying taxes for 12 years. According to court filings, investigators discovered that he has been hiding money earned from his consulting business in bank accounts created under his children's names. He also submitted false collection forms which stated that he only has one bank account and also concealed the existence of the nominee accounts. He also withdrew money he deposited in his nominee accounts after realizing that the IRS was about to levy them and seize the accounts.
He is also accused of spending government money on personal luxuries such as paying the mortgage for his 4,300 square-foot home as well as making car loan payments with the funds.
He also took advantage of his family members by operating their bank accounts without their consent and using their accounts to pay for his personal items and evade taxes. In addition to his 43-month prison sentence, Henti Brad will be supervised for one year upon his release and will be required to pay $573,422.74 in restitution to the IRS.
Who carried out the investigations?
Investigations that lead to his arrest and prosecution were headed by special agents of IRS criminal investigations department. The prosecutors of the case were Assistant U.S. Attorney Clifton Barrett of the Middle District of North Carolina and Attorney Kathryn Kimball of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
Tax evasion in the United States
The US internal revenue services define tax evasion as an attempt in any manner by a taxpayer to evade assessment of tax obligations and failure to remit tax funds to the tax authority of as per the law. Fines for tax avoidance are not more that 100,000 US dollars for individuals and 500,000 US dollars for corporations, 5 years imprisonment or both. The US government loses close to 300 billion U.S dollars in tax revenues due to tax evasion. To identify tax evaders, the Internal Revenue service performs comparisons of net worth and cash expenditures of individuals and businesses on a yearly basis. A snapshot of one's net worth includes cash on hand, bank accounts, stocks and bonds, house, cars, jewelry, and other similar items.