Tax Preparer Sentenced For Filing Fraudulent Forms

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — A Brandywine man has been sentenced to prison for filing fraudulent tax returns. He also must pay restitution of more than $268,000.

According to the evidence presented at trial, Ronald Eugene Watson, also known as Sabir Muhammad, 59, worked as a self-employed tax return preparer operating SW Accounting Associates in Largo. The evidence presented at trial showed that from at least 2015 to at least 2017, Watson prepared and electronically filed with the IRS fraudulent Forms 1040 and related Schedules A and C for his taxpayer clients.

Watson included inflated and fictitious tax deductions and fraudulent business profits and losses in order to obtain larger tax refunds to which the taxpayer-clients were not entitled. According to witness testimony, Watson varied his preparation fees depending on the amount of the refund requested, with fees typically ranging from approximately $500 up to approximately $1,500. The tax loss to the United States was $325,330. Watson also failed to file his own tax returns for two years and willfully filed false tax returns in three other years, court documents showed.

Watson has been sentenced to 27 months in federal prison followed by one year of supervised release for 23 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns. Restitution of $268,634.35 also must be paid by Watson who was convicted on March 9 after an eight-day trial.