Taxable Talk

"Renaissance, the Tax People", was, as I previously reported, a multi-level marketing firm specializing in tax. That was the legal part of the business. The illegal part, according to the Department of Justice (and the six individuals who have pleaded guilty to various charges to date) was how it lowered taxes for its clients.

If you used the Renaissance system, you could deduct personal expenses as business expenses! And you could have gotten this system for just $300 to $1200, plus another $100 per month! What a deal!

Just one major problem with that...you can never deduct personal expenses as business expenses. That's fraud, and that's what the Renaissance founders promoted.

The latest to plead guilty is Renaissance's former National Marketing Director, Todd Eugene Strand of nearby Murrieta, California. Mr. Strand admitted that he falsely assured customers that the program was legal. He also agreed that Renaissance defrauded customers of $75 million, and caused a tax loss to the United States of $20 million.

Mr. Strand is looking at a few years at ClubFed, and a possible fine of $500,000. He'll be sentenced in January 2008.