Carmen Basilis, Tax Refund Forgery, Pennsylvania 2024

PHILADELPHIA – In a brazen scheme, Carmen Basilis, 52, of Reading, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty yesterday to tax fraud charges, admitting she had falsified miscellaneous deductions on her clients’ tax returns to obtain inflated tax refunds they weren’t entitled to.

According to the investigation, Basilis would instruct her clients to apply for Refund Anticipation Loans, which allowed them to receive a loan from a bank within a few days of filing their returns. But what her clients didn’t know was that Basilis would use IRS Form 8888 to divert a portion of the refund into her own personal bank account.

After taking a cut of the refund, Basilis would issue the Refund Anticipation Loan checks to her clients, while the IRS sent the bank the remaining refund to pay off the loan. And to make matters worse, Basilis charged her clients a fee for preparing and electronically filing their returns with the Internal Revenue Service.

Basilis’ scheme left her clients with a loss, while lining her own pockets with an unknown amount of money. The case was investigated by the IRS Criminal Investigations and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Floyd J. Miller.

U.S. District Court Judge James Knoll Gardner has scheduled a sentencing hearing for May 5, 2016, where Basilis will face the consequences of her actions.

The case highlights the importance of doing one’s homework when choosing a tax preparer and the need for increased vigilance in protecting against tax-related scams.

The Grimy Times will continue to follow this story and provide updates as more information becomes available.

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