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News

July 21, 2009

VACAVILLE ARCHITECT PLEADS GUILTY TO TAX EVASION

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Acting United States Attorney Lawrence G. Brown announced today that THOMAS ALLAN BOUFFARD, 48, of Vacaville, pleaded guilty today to one charge of attempted tax evasion. The guilty plea was entered before United States District Judge Morrison C. England Jr.

This case is the product of an extensive investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation.

According to Assistant United States Attorney Samantha Spangler, who is prosecuting the case, BOUFFARD admitted that for tax year 2002, he understated his income from his business as an architect by $121,693, resulting in an underpayment of income tax of $38,388.

In 2005, during an IRS audit, discrepancies were found in BOUFFARD’s return for tax year 2002. He admitted to the auditor that he was suspicious his 2002 return may not be accurate. The IRS then expanded the audit to include his 2003 tax return, and BOUFFARD admitted there may be “something wrong” with it as well.

For both tax years, BOUFFARD had signed his tax preparer’s engagement letter, which stated it was the taxpayer’s responsibility to provide all information necessary to prepare the return. BOUFFARD supplied to the auditor an MS Money printout, tracking his income and expenses for both years, which was relatively accurate by comparison to his records, but markedly different than the information supplied to the tax preparer. He had not supplied the MS Money printout to the tax preparer. BOUFFARD has agreed to pay full restitution to the IRS for the underpayment of taxes for both tax years 2002 and 2003, which amounts to $63,706.

Said Acting U.S. Attorney Brown, “This prosecution should serve as a warning that professionals are not immune from investigation by the IRS and prosecution by this office if they try to shirk their responsibility to pay their fair share of taxes.”

The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge England on September 24, 2009 at
9:00 a.m. The maximum statutory penalty for a violation of the evasion charge is five years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, and restitution. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables and any applicable statutory sentencing factors.

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For more information on federal criminal defense law, contact the Law Offices of Joseph Shemaria of Los Angeles, California.