United States v. Neil A. Thomsen

On July 14, 2010, Neil Thomsen, then a 67-year-old retired engineer turned tax preparer, was charged, as the sole defendant, with 34 federal offenses arising from a tax fraud scheme. On December 8, 2011, a jury convicted him of 32 of those offenses, after the prosecution withdrew two. He was sentenced to fifteen years of imprisonment and ordered to pay just over $500,000 in restitution. He now appeals his conviction of two offenses, the restitution order, and the calculation of his advisory guidelines sentencing range. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings.

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Charges And Conviction

The charges against Thomsen arose from an alleged tax fraud scheme, beginning on a date unknown and continuing through about April 15, 2009, that is, for the 2009 tax season relating to the 2008 tax year. The Indictment alleged the essence of the scheme was “that defendant THOMSEN fraudulently used the personal identification, including names and [social security numbers], of individuals, for whom he prepared tax returns or who had their tax returns prepared by an entity where defendant THOMSEN was employed, in order to file false income tax…