Tax attorney used IDs of dead children to avoid taxes

A former San Diego tax attorney and accountant who used the IDs of dead children to avoid paying taxes was sentenced Monday to federal prison for 57 months.

Lloyd Taylor, 71, was convicted of 19 felonies.

He “tried in every conceivable way to avoid paying his taxes, from using the identities of dead children and fake churches to converting income to gold coins,” said IRS special agent Erick Martinez.

Taylor, who once ran unsuccessfully for a county office in San Francisco, was also ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Anello to pay $2.2 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

According to trial evidence, Taylor fabricated a dozen fake religious institutions and opened 31 related bank and investment accounts for the fake churches, using the tax-exempt status of churches. He also used the identities of dead children to obtain fraudulent passports to assist in opening bank and investment accounts.

During an investigation by the IRS and a San Diego County regional fraud task force, Taylor attempted to hide $1.6 million in gold coins in a storage locker. He was arrested in April 2013 and convicted after a weeklong trial in June of this year.

In 40 years as a tax attorney, Taylor filed income taxes seven times, according to prosecutors.

Taylor was convicted on charges of making false statements on passport applications, tax evasion, aggravated identity theft, and attempting to thwart an IRS investigation.