A Yakima couple have been sentenced to six months of home confinement after they pleaded guilty in federal court to income tax crimes.
Senior District Judge Fred Van Sickle sentenced Karen L. Kivett, 61, for filing a false income tax refund claim, while her husband, William E. Kivett Jr., 66, was sentenced for failing to file an income tax return, according to a news release issued Friday by U.S. Attorney Michael C. Ormsby of the Eastern District of Washington in Spokane.
The Kivetts were sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Yakima. After home confinement, the couple will be under court supervision for three years.
According to Ormsby, Karen Kivett was involved in what is known as a Form 1099-OID “redemption” scheme, where the forms are used to report inflated taxable income and fraudulent withholding to boost one’s tax refund.
On March 15 and 17, 2009, Karen Kivett filed claims for more than $900,000 in tax refunds for the 2005, 2006 and 2007 tax years, according to court documents. She also failed to file income tax returns for the 2008 to 2011 tax years.
The Internal Revenue Service did not pay the false claims.
Meanwhile, William Kivett did not file an income tax return for the 2008 tax year and failed to report income he earned as an investigative analyst for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as income that his wife earned through commissions for the sale of health care products. Court documents show that in 2008, William Kivett earned $40,759 in wages while his wife earned $35,608. He also failed to file tax returns for the 2009 to 2011 tax years.
The investigation was conducted by the IRS Criminal Investigation department.