A former IRS supervisor in Philadelphia was sentenced to 13 months in federal prison Wednesday for cheating on his taxes.
Wayne M. Garvin, a 26-year veteran of the agency, underreported his income by more than $74,000 by claiming thousands of dollars in deductions to which he wasn’t entitled between 2012 and 2016.
Those included tax breaks for charitable contributions to a church that he never made, for houses he owned in New Jersey that he falsely claimed as rental properties, and for unreimbursed employment expenses he said he incurred as an Army reservist in a year in which he performed no military work.
When the IRS initiated an audit in 2015, Garvin faked documents in hopes of substantiating those deductions.
Garvin, 57, had worked in the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an IRS branch dedicated to helping citizens navigate tax issues, from 1990 until he retired from the agency in 2016 and moved to South Carolina.
He pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion earlier this year as part of an agreement with prosecutors.
In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge John Milton Younge sentenced Garvin to three years’ probation and ordered him to pay back the nearly $75,000 in back taxes he owes.
Garvin’s attorney, James Timothy Marsh, did not immediately return requests for comment after Wednesday’s hearing.
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