Exposure Drafts: Don’t Forget to Make Estimated Tax Payments If You Find a Pot of Gold

What’s most interesting about this particular scam is that it involved more people – 55 – than some accounting firms’ entire headcount.

A grand jury has indicted 55 people for participating in scams that tried to bilk the government out of more than $250 million in undeserved tax refunds, prosecutors in California said on Monday. Thirty-two indictments were returned by the grand jury accusing the people of various schemes to obtain the refunds. Millions of dollars were paid out, including a check worth almost $1.2 million, the prosecutors said. The owners of one California company were accused of making presentations that claimed customers could get tax refunds from a “secret government account” after making payments to the company and agreeing to pay a percentage of any refunds they received, the prosecutors said.

Grand jury indicts 55 for $250 million in tax scams [Reuters]