Ex-Kentucky CPA Accused of Failing to Report More Than $300,000 on Federal Taxes

By Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader (TNS)

A former Kentucky accountant has been indicted after allegedly failing to report more than $320,000 in income on his federal taxes.

A federal grand jury indicted Charles Marshall Stivers, of Manchester, last week on two charges of making false statements on tax returns in 2018 and 2020.

Stivers reported gross income of $245,130 for one tax year, but failed to report another $170,507, the indictment charges.

In the second tax year at issue, Stivers allegedly reported gross income of $305,378 but failed to report an additional $157,922.

The charges are punishable by up to three years in prison each.

Stivers has had prior legal trouble over his actions as an accountant. He was a certified public accountant from 1989 until his CPA license was revoked in October 2015 after he pleaded guilty in Tennessee federal court in a case alleging tax fraud against a state legislator.

In that case, Stivers told authorities Rep. Joe Armstrong made a profit of about $500,000 selling cigarette tax stamps but had Stivers run the money through an account of his at a bank in Manchester to hide the windfall.

Stivers said he wrote checks from his account to Armstrong and did not include the money on a tax return he prepared for Armstrong.

Stivers pleaded guilty to conspiracy and was sentenced to two years’ probation and restitution of $19,787 in restitution.

Armstrong argued Stivers was at fault because he relied on Stivers to do his taxes, but a jury convicted him of filing a false tax return.

A judge sentenced Armstrong to three years of probation, a $40,000 fine and restitution to the IRS of $99,943.

Stivers faced another charge in 2021 of putting false information in a document he submitted to the IRS.

Stivers said in the document that he had authority to represent a restaurant in a tax case, but was not authorized to practice as a CPA at the time and used his son’s license number, according to the court record.

Stivers pleaded guilty to making and using a false document.

U.S. District Judge Claria Horn Boom sentenced him in May 2022 to 10 months in prison and a fine of $30,000.

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