By David Wichner, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson (TNS)

A tax preparer in Tucson, AZ, already awaiting trial on drug-smuggling charges has been indicted by a federal grand jury, accused of filing fraudulent tax returns to reap inflated fees.

The 10-count indictment against Nour Abubakr Nour, who operated Skyman Tax LLC, alleges that Nour used a tax refund advance loan service to pay himself fees from inflated tax refunds, after filing fraudulent tax returns on behalf of clients in 2017 and 2018.

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Nour has a detention hearing and arraignment scheduled for May 5 before a federal magistrate judge, ahead of trial set for June 13, according to the IRS Criminal Investigation division.

A phone message left for Nour at a number listed for Skyman Tax was not returned.

In September, Nour was arrested entering the U.S. at the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales after border agents said they found more than 400 grams of a substance containing fentanyl, as well as about 10 grams of cocaine, hidden in a van he was driving.

Nour has pleaded not guilty to the drug charges and faces a jury trial scheduled for July 11, court documents show.

According to the tax fraud indictment, Nour prepared and filed federal income tax returns for immigrants to the U.S., including refugees who did not speak English.

The indictment alleges that when Nour prepared and filed his clients’ Form 1040 tax returns, he claimed false and fraudulent gross receipts or sales from fictitious businesses on Schedule C, and inflated the amount of claimed Earned Income Credits and Additional Child Tax Credits.

Nour used a third-party tax refund advance service used by tax preparers, Refund Advantage, to process each client’s refund, deducting a tax-preparation fee before transferring the remainder minus fees to clients.

The indictment alleges that Nour used the inflated and fraudulent tax refunds he procured to pay himself additional tax-preparation fees ranging from $494 to $1,600, while also collecting fees of $75 to $250 from clients.

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