A San Diego tax attorney accused of promoting tax fraud schemes that helped clients evade income taxes and circumvent pension-plan rules has been permanently barred from providing tax advice and preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.
Scott A. Waage agreed to the civil injunction order without admitting the allegations against him, prosecutors said.
A federal complaint alleges that Waage, a self-proclaimed "visionary tax attorney,'' promoted tax fraud through a concept he called "Strategic Integrated Planning.''
According to the government, one of Waage's alleged schemes involved creating and using sham consulting corporations, purportedly headquartered in customers' homes. Customers funneled funds to the sham corporations to pay for and improperly deduct personal expenses, the complaint alleges.
Waage also was accused of unlawfully using employee-benefit plans to pay customers' personal expenses and using pension plans to illegally increase and accelerate deductions and avoid income taxes on plan payouts.
Robert O. Jensen, a certified public accountant, allegedly prepared the customers' tax returns claiming the bogus deductions generated by Waage's schemes.
Last March, a federal judge enjoined Jensen from preparing tax returns that understate income.
The government complaint states that the harm to the U.S. Treasury as a result of Waage's alleged schemes exceeded $10.8 million.
The injunction order requires Waage to provide the government with a list of all clients who used his tax planning or tax preparation services since 2001. He must also send his former clients notice of the injunction order.
