Posted at 11:34 a.m., Friday, July 13, 2007
IRS investigates suspicious refunds in American Samoa
Associated Press
PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — The Internal Revenue Service is investigating suspicious refunds it issued to residents of this U.S. territory who claimed a credit island residents aren't entitled to.The probe is similar to one in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands that ended in May with a guilty plea in the first federal criminal income tax case on Saipan.
So far, an IRS criminal investigator on American Samoa has found about 100 filings claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit, said Melvin Joseph, manager of the American Samoa Tax Office.
A review of both IRS and local tax office records found that off-island addresses were used when filings were made with the IRS, with refund checks running about $2,000 to $3,000 apiece, Joseph said.In the Northern Marianas case, tax preparer Antonieta Bonifacio Aguon, 44, was charged with preparing about 275 fraudulent U.S. income tax returns that unlawfully sought the credit, a refund for low-income working individuals and families.
Between March 2006 and April 2007, the false returns cost the United States about $850,000.American Samoa is located about 2,300 miles south of Hawaii. The Northern Mariana Islands are about 3,800 miles southwest of Hawaii.
