Tax preparer found guilty of filing false returns

A federal jury convicted a Mount Vernon tax preparer on July 25 of preparing false tax returns and obstructing the Internal Revenue Service.

Samuel Gentle, 59, was found guilty after a five-day trial before U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Seibel in White Plains.

Gentle”™s business, GenGen Corp., 35 Colonial Place, Mount Vernon, prepared tax returns from 2010 to 2014 that contained inflated deductions for business expenses and gifts to charities, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

Gentle also failed to report nearly half of $1 million in receipts that his business received from 2010 to 2014. He spread the money across eight bank accounts and failed to issue tax forms to himself and employees, “further concealing from the IRS the amount of receipts he and his business received.”

As part of the IRS investigation, an undercover agent posing as a client met Gentle to discuss his taxes around April 2012. The agent recorded the meeting with concealed audio-visual equipment.

Gentle itemized false deductions that the agent had not discussed or documented, according to the indictment. The tax return claimed a $574 refund.

Gentle said in a telephone interview in April that he did have documents to support his work and he claimed that the undercover agent, who posed as a construction worker, told him he had donated $300 to $400 to charity.

“I know in my heart I did not do it,” he said in response to the indictment.

The jury found Gentle guilty on all 39 counts submitted by the government.

He is scheduled for sentencing Oct. 25.