Tax scams are nothing new. Each year, tax authorities, including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issue warnings about potential pitfalls and schemes with reminders that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
But wooed by the promise of fast money, many taxpayers get sucked in by false promises. Making a false statement here, or claiming a bogus deduction there can feel like an easy way to get ahead, leaving you to wonder: What’s the worst that can happen? Plenty. And one Texas tax preparer found out the hard way.
Crystal Mason admits that she made a mistake. According to court records, Mason managed CMH Enterprises, also known as CMH Tax and Service, located in Everman, Texas. Together with another defendant, Mason filed false income tax returns for the 2005-2008 tax years. As part of the scheme, Mason prepared and filed income tax returns using a variety of tactics including Schedules C for businesses that did not exist, exemptions and credits for fictitious dependents, falsely claimed earned income credit, and improper education credits. The purpose of the false income tax return was to generate bogus tax refund checks.
At the time, refund anticipation loans (RALs) were all the rage. With a refund anticipation loan (RAL), once the IRS had confirmed receipt of the tax return, banks would advance funds to the taxpayers. According to the indictment, Mason and an additional defendant took control of the RALs, deducting fees and sometimes demanding additional fees before the money was released. The total, allege the feds, “far exceeded normal fees charged by legitimate taxpayers.”
For her part in the scheme, Mason was charged with one felony count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. She initially pleaded not guilty, but on November 23, 2011, she changed her plea to guilty without a plea agreement. Even though she cooperated with prosecutors, she received the maximum sentence: 60 months in prison with an additional three years of supervised release, and restitution in the amount of $4,206,805.49. As part of the conditions of her release, she was ordered not to “commit another federal, state or local crime.”
Mason appealed her sentence but nonetheless began her prison sentence in 2012. With time earned for good behavior, she was released from prison in 2016 and began her term of supervised release. That same year, at the urging of her mother, she cast a vote in the presidential election. There was just one problem: Under Texas law, felons may not vote until their full sentence is served, including supervised release.
The law in Texas is not the law in all states. In two states, Maine and Vermont, felons never lose the right to vote, even while they are incarcerated. In 14 states and the District of Columbia, felons lose their voting rights only while incarcerated; they receive automatic restoration upon release. However, in four states (Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, and Virginia), all felons are permanently barred from voting.
With so much at stake, how could Mason go so wrong? It was accidental, she claims. Her name wasn’t on the voter roll, so she received a provisional ballot from an election worker. She signed the affidavit on the ballot that stated she was an eligible voter. Only she wasn’t. Since an election worker was helping her, she claimed, she didn’t stop to read the small print at the top advising that a felon who had not yet completed a sentence – including supervised release – could not vote.
As a result, Mason was re-arrested in 2017 on charges that she committed a second-degree felony, violating the Texas Election Code. Mason insisted that she did not know that she was breaking the law when she cast her ballot, telling the Star-Telegram, “You think I would jeopardize my freedom? …You honestly think I would ever want to leave my babies again? That was the hardest thing in my life to deal with. Who would — as a mother, as a provider — leave their kids over voting?”
Mason pleaded not guilty. After a bench trial, she was found guilty and sentenced to an additional five years in prison. She is appealing the verdict. An email sent to her attorney seeking comment was not immediately returned.
As for Mason’s vote? Since it was a provisional ballot, it was subject to scrutiny. And ultimately, it didn’t even count.
