Jury: Man guilty of preparing false tax returns

A jury has convicted a Birmingham man of assisting in the preparation of false income tax returns and tampering with a witness.

U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance said in a statement that 41-year-old Donald Steele was convicted Wednesday on five counts of assisting in the preparation of a false federal income tax return and on one count of witness tampering.

Steele previously owned the tax return preparation business Max Tax.

Witnesses testified that they weren’t given a copy of their tax return when they were prepared. When investigators later showed them their returns, they contained false claims.

A woman testified that she tried unsuccessfully to get a copy of her return from Steele. She said once the investigation began, Steele tried to bribe her to not talk to the IRS.