But we already knew that, right? Nor are home improvements are your home itself. A Florida doctor learned that the hard way.
Dr. Krishna Tripuraneni pleaded guilty this week to evading tax on $18,128,066 million of income. Dr. Tripuraneni provided his tax professional with profit and loss statements used to prepare his returns for his businesses (he has a professional corporation and a partnership) and his personal return. The P&L’s had inflated expenses and, thus, understated his income from 2004-2008.
Not stated in the DOJ press release is that Dr. Tripuraneni has made restitution on about $10.2 million of the $11.8 million in tax and penalties he owes.
A helpful hint to potential fraudsters out there: Conspicuous consumption is not a good idea. Even better, skip the tax fraud. As I’ve said many times before (and will say many times in the future), it’s always a lot easier to just pay your taxes in the first place.