Tax Preparer Pleads Guilty for Filing False Returns

CONCORD, NH - Okello Odongo, 36, of Snellville, GA, pleaded guilty in U.S.District Court for the District of New Hampshire to 19 counts of filing false tax returns and fraudulently obtaining tax refunds, according to a court document.

Odongo, formerly of Manchester, operated a tax return preparation business called Tax Smart Solutions Co., according to U.S. Attorney Emily Gray Rice.

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"As a tax preparer, Odongo was authorized by the IRS to file tax returns electronically for his customers," she noted. "One of the forms he filed electronically was an Allocation of Refund Form that instructed the IRS to directly deposit refunds into specified bank accounts. The form allowed a refund to be allocated to two or more bank accounts."

In 2011 and 2012 Odongo filed false tax returns on behalf of some of his customers that fraudulently overstated the amounts of the tax refunds they were entitled to claim. Odongo also filed Allocation of Refund Forms that directed the IRS to electronically deposit the fraudulent portions of the refunds to bank accounts Odongo held or had access to. None of Odongo’s customers knew that he used their doctored tax returns as a vehicle to defraud the IRS.

The statutory maximum for each of the 19 charges Odongo pleaded guilty to is five years in prison. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for June 22, 2016. The court will sentence Odongo after it has reviewed and considered a presentence investigation report prepared by the United States Probation Office.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark S. Zuckerman.