So... A friend of mine worked part time at pizza hut all last year..total wages for 2014 was $5600, she has a 14 year old daughter and her federal withheld was $371. She called me up last month after she filed her taxes and told me her refund was $5400. Right away I told her something wasnt right..noone gets back that close to what they brought in..She assured me her tax preparer didnt do anything but enter her wages and her daighters info..refund submitted and accepted January 31st..fast forward 3 weeks..she still has no DD date on the website..finally she tells me that her tax preparer gave her a "fuel credit" and added fraudulent self employment income..THEN she tells me this same lady has done this the past 2 years and there has never neen an issue AND before that for 5 years in a row prior to these past 3 tax years, she claimed fraudulent self employment income to get almost $6,000 back- even for years she had no income. As of today, 6 weeks after filing- no refund, no DD date. What are the chances she is FINALLY busted scamming the federal government? She has received no notice from IRS. Would they go back more than just this year and audit her? What will happen to her?? Shes my friend but I seriously get so aggravated that she would deliberately scam for more than the already generous EIC given to honest people. What the heck is a fuel credit? Any thoughts will help. Thanks!
The TAXPAYER is 100% responsible for how the tax forms are filled out. They have the final say as to whether all is correct or not before the forms are signed and mailed in. The taxpayer could be held criminally liable for these forms. The tax preparer is almost absolved of any errors. But fraudulent claims are a separate issue between the tax preparer and the IRS.
your friend could get into a lot of trouble with the IRS with that Idiot doing her taxes - if she gets audited - they can go back a lot of years - no idea what the fuel tax credit is and it certainly should not apply to someone making $5600 a yr and that fake self employment income scares me. how came she has never questioned anything - has she even LOOKED at the tax returns before signing??
Chances are good she's busted. And when they find obvious fraud, they'll go back to previous years to see if she's done it before.It's surprising she got away with it this long. Will be a long time if ever before she gets all the money she stole paid back, plus interest and penalties. If she's lucky she won't be prosecuted.
EITC is what gives them a big refund and it' not fair to you and me and millions of other workers that are single, and earn a good income. Time to do away with this welfare.
