On the record

Chicago: Attorney Michael Abramson, of Wilmette Illinois, has been convicted of tax fraud, attempting to tamper with a witness and violating a court order.

Abramson filed and caused to be filed false individual returns for himself and false corporate returns for a company in which he held an ownership interest, Illinois-based Leasing Employment Services Co. Inc.

Abramson also provided more than $1 million for personal expenses to a woman with whom he was romantically involved, then deducted what were falsely characterized as commissions or loans and included the fraudulent loans as an asset on the company’s returns. The expenses included money for a condo, luxury automobiles and travel, shopping and restaurants.

Following the indictment in this case, the court ordered Abramson not to contact witnesses, including his bookkeeper. Weeks before trial last February, Abramson gave the bookkeeper a copy of her previous court testimony on which he had handwritten notes changing or otherwise scripting her answers. The bookkeeper turned the transcript over to law enforcement.

Sentencing is May 1.

Mustang, Oklahoma: Education official Kim Weinrich has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and to making and subscribing a false return.

Between 2014 and April 2022, Weinrich was employed by Mustang Public Schools District as payroll supervisor and was promoted to director of payroll services in 2021. 

Beginning in 2016, Weinrich manipulated the district’s payroll accounting software to increase her net pay each period, depositing the stolen money into her personal bank account. Weinrich’s scheme also resulted in several district employees underreporting federal and state withholdings.

Between July 2016 and April 2022, Weinrich defrauded the district of some $471,657.91.

She also manipulated the payroll software to make it appear as if she’d paid substantial federal income taxes when she’d had no federal income taxes withheld. In April 2022, she filed a federal return reporting income of $91,295, substantially lower than her real income from the scheme.

She faces up to 23 years in prison and fines up to $350,000.

Newark, New Jersey: A federal court has held in contempt tax preparer Abraham Taylor, a resident of Florida and formerly of New Jersey, for continuing to prepare returns after the court permanently barred him and his business, Chentay Consulting Services LP (d.b.a. CCS Tax Services) from preparing federal income tax returns for others.

According to the court’s order, Taylor concealed his violations of the permanent injunction by using e-filing privileges assigned to Fredrick Gibson, of Uncle Sam Tax Services in Pennsylvania. Taylor agreed to the entry of the contempt order and a disgorgement judgment; Gibson agreed to forfeit his e-filing privileges.

Taylor was held in contempt in 2021 for using e-filing privileges assigned to his son O’Neal Taylor and his son’s business. Through the contempt order, Taylor agreed to a disgorgement judgment and O’Neal agreed to forfeit his e-filing privileges.

The most recent contempt order requires Taylor to provide the U.S. with a list of his clients and to send a copy of the court’s injunction order to all clients for whom he prepared returns. It also provides that the court can order the sale of Taylor’s house to satisfy the two disgorgement judgments if he continues to prepare returns.

Washington, D.C.: CPA Timothy Trifilo has pleaded guilty to making a false statement on a mortgage loan application and to failing to file an income tax return.

Trifilo worked in tax compliance for several large accounting and finance firms. In recent years, he was managing director at a tax firm where he specialized in transaction structuring and advisory service, tax compliance and tax due diligence.

For a decade, Trifilo did not file federal income tax returns or pay all his taxes despite earning more than $7.7 million during that time. He caused a tax loss to the IRS of $2,057,256.40.

In February 2023, Trifilo sought a $1.36 million bank-financed loan to purchase a home in the District of Columbia. After the mortgage company told him that the bank would not approve the loan without copies of his filed returns, Trifilo provided the mortgage company with fabricated documents to make it appear as if he had filed returns and provided copies of 2020 and 2021 returns that Trifilo in fact had never filed with the IRS.

On these returns and other documents, Trifilo listed a former colleague as the individual who prepared the returns and uploaded them for filing with the IRS. This individual did not prepare the returns, had never prepared returns for Trifilo and did not authorize Trifilo to use his name on the returns and other documents. Based on false representation, the bank approved the loan and Trifilo purchased the home.

Sentencing is May 19. Trifilo faces up to 30 years in prison on the charge of making a false statement on a loan application and a maximum of a year on the charge of failure to file a tax return. He also faces a period of supervised release, monetary penalties and restitution. 

San Diego: Business owner Wahead Raz has pleaded guilty to paying an IRS officer $35,000 to erase a six-figure tax debt.

On July 23, Raz offered the bribe to an IRS revenue officer during a meeting at the San Diego IRS office to discuss his outstanding tax debt of some $500,000. After the meeting, the IRS officer reported the bribe to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and agreed to be part of an undercover operation.

The next day, TIGTA video-recorded a meeting between the IRS officer and Raz during which Raz told the officer that he could pay in cash so the bribe would not be traceable. On July 25, the IRS officer recorded a call during which Raz said, “If you save me money, then I’ll take care of you,” and asked the officer to name a price. When the officer asked for $30,000, Raz countered with $20,000. After the IRS officer insisted on $30,000, Raz agreed, offering to pay $10,000 up front and the remaining $20,000 when the debt was cleared.

On July 30, TIGTA recorded a meeting between the IRS officer and Raz during which the latter provided the $10,000 cash and asked the officer to eliminate some $50,000 in tax debt owed by Raz’s business; Raz offered to pay the officer an additional $5,000 to have that debt cancelled.

On August 22, TIGTA recorded another meeting during which Raz gave the officer $15,000 in cash and told the officer he did not have the entire $25,000 originally agreed upon. On August 29, Raz paid $10,000 cash to complete the bribe. During two of the recorded meetings, Raz also offered to introduce to the officer other “clients” who also owed federal taxes and said he would introduce the agent once Raz’s tax debt was cleared.

Sentencing is March 19.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have released final rules and procedural guidance for the Section 48E(h) Clean Electricity Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Amount Program.

The 48E(h) program expands the 48(e) bonus credit designed to lower home energy costs and accelerate clean energy investments in low-income communities and helping low-income households, on Indian Land, or as part of affordable housing developments. A Treasury analysis of the first year of the 48(e) program indicated the program received over 54,000 applications from 48 states, the District of Columbia and four territories. 

Approved applications for the tax credit are expected to generate $3.5 billion in investments in low-income communities and on Indian Lands and are estimated to generate $270 million in offset energy costs annually. During the second year of the 48(e) program, the program received over 57,000 applications, totaling over 1.9 gigawatts of clean energy generation. 

The approved applications are also expected to generate approximately $4 billion in public and private investment into communities and almost $350 million in offset energy costs annually.

The rules released Wednesday highlight the expanded list of program-eligible technologies beyond wind and solar to zero-emissions technologies like hydropower and geothermal. The full set of program-eligible facilities and how that list will be updated in the future is defined in the Section 48E Clean Electricity Investment Credit final regulations. On Tuesday, the Treasury and the IRS also released those final rules. The allocated credit provides a 10 or 20 percentage point boost on top of the 30 percent 48E investment tax credit (assuming prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements are met). 

“Expanding the Clean Electricity Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit will help lower energy costs in communities that have been overlooked and left out for too long and empower developers to work alongside communities to provide tailored solutions to meet their energy and economic needs,” said U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo in a statement Wednesday. “The final rules announced today will help ensure that all Americans benefit from the growth of the clean energy economy.”

The 48E(h) program will allocate bonuses to 1.8 gigawatts of clean electricity generation serving low-income communities each year, from 2025 through at least 2032. For the 2025 Program Year, the application period will open on Jan. 16, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. ET and close on Aug. 1, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. ET.  For the 2026 Program Year and subsequent program years, the application period will open the first Monday of February at 9:00 a.m. ET and close the first Friday of August at 11:59 p.m. ET.

The final rules announced Wednesday make some notable changes from the 48(e) program, including changes due to the statutory transition to the 48E Clean Electricity Investment Credit along with incorporation of feedback received through public comment and lessons learned from previous years. The final rules highlight the list of eligible facilities defined in the updated 48E Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit regulations from solar and wind to also include facilities that utilize zero-emission technologies like hydropower, marine and hydrokinetic, geothermal and nuclear.

The final rules clarify eligibility requirements for some of the main categories, including expanding the list of housing programs that are eligible to participate as a qualified low-income residential building project and clarifying the financial value that certain projects must provide to low-income households.

The final rules also offer a pathway for emerging clean energy businesses to receive priority in applying for the program.

The guidance released by the Treasury outlines the annual capacity limitation available for allocation, divided across the four facility categories. For the 2025 program year, around 174,243 kilowatts (DC) are being carried over from previous program years and distributed evenly between the four categories. Individuals interested in learning more about the program or submitting an application should visit the program’s landing page on the IRS website here.

The deal is expected to close in early 2025. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

HDA was founded in 2011 and has two partners and a staff of over 65 professionals. EisnerAmper has 450 partners and approximately 4,500 staff members. The firm’s Eisner Advisory Group ranked No. 17 on Accounting Today‘s 2024 list of the Top 100 Firms, with $848.7 million in annual revenue.

HDA provides services exclusively to dental practice owners and has over 800 dental practice clients across all 50 states. The firm offers tax compliance and planning, monthly accounting, benchmarking, profitability analytics and revenue advice, using proprietary software tailored to dental practices.

“This combination with EisnerAmper will allow us to enhance our clients’ experience through additional expertise, technology, and service offerings,” said HDA managing partner Morgan K. Hamon in a statement Thursday. “We can now offer our dental practice clients value-added advisory services such as cybersecurity, real estate, business valuation, wealth management and much more. We’re really excited about this big leap forward.”

EisnerAmper sees dental practices as an important niche for outsourced accounting. “As the outsourced accounting sector becomes ever more focused on industry-tailored solutions, HDA represents a strategic move in both a key practice area and niche,” said Dan Gardiner, managing partner of outsourced solutions at EisnerAmper, in a statement. “We warmly welcome HDA and look forward to the exciting growth opportunities with EisnerAmper’s Health Care Group.”

Koltin Consulting Group CEO Allan Koltin advised both firms on the deal. “One reason for EisnerAmper’s continued growth has been its ability to add new, in-demand practice niches,” Koltin said in a statement. “This strategic pairing of EisnerAmper and HDA is all about the cultural fit along with the client-focused resources that each brings to the table.”

EisnerAmper has been busy on the M&A front since it received private equity funding in 2021 from TowerBrook Capital Partners, setting the stage for other accounting firms to follow its lead. The firm split into an alternative practice structure with Eisner Advisory Group LLC providing nonattest services and EisnerAmper LLP offering attest services to clients. Last fall, it added Tighe, Kress & Orr PC, a CPA firm based in Elgin, Illinois. In August, the firm announced it had added Krost CPAs, a Top 100 Firm based in the Los Angeles area, in a combination that’s expected to close this month. In May, it announced it would be adding Edelstein & Co., a Regional Leader based in Boston, in June. In March, EisnerAmper announced it was adding the Tidwell Group in Birmingham, Alabama, effective May 1. In 2023, it merged in Spielman Koenigsberg & Parker in New York, Morrison & Morrison in Chicago, and Top 100 Firm Postlethwaite & Netterville in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In 2022, it added Lindsay & Brownell in La Jolla, California, Hoffman Group in Baltimore, Lurie in Minnesota and Florida, and Top 100 Firm Raich Ende Malter  and Popper & Co. in New York.