Reeds Spring businessman sentenced to prison for tax fraud

A Reeds Spring businessman was sentenced last week to two years in federal prison for filing fraudulent tax refund claims.

Michael Jett, 48, pleaded guilty in December to filing 22 false or fraudulent tax returns so he could obtain larger tax refunds between January 2009 and January 2012, according to a news release from the office of Tammy Dickinson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Jett prepared personal tax returns, as well as those for his family and other individuals, using fraudulent W-2 forms issues by companies he owned including Air1Assault, Creative Designs, Southwest Missouri Home Products and Corvette Specialist.

Jett used the fraudulent tax forms to request refunds in amounts larger than actually owed, which were electronically deposited in his bank accounts or those of his family.

On the 22 tax returns, Jett requested $124,493 when he and others only qualified for $19,137 in legitimate refunds. The total loss to the government was $105,356 through the scheme, according to the release.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Milligan and was investigated by Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation.[[In-content Ad]]