November 16, 2016

A congressional staffer pleaded guilty to willfully failing to file an individual income tax return, announced the Justice Department’s Tax Division. According to court filed documents, Issac Lanier Avant, a resident of Arlington, Virginia, is a staff member who has been employed by the U.S. House of Representatives since approximately 2000. Despite earning more than $165,000 each year from 2008 through 2013, Avant failed to timely file personal income tax returns for any of those years. Avant filed returns for tax years 2006 and 2007, but those returns each contained false deductions. In May 2005, Avant caused a form to be filed with his employer that falsely claimed he was exempt from federal income taxes. Avant did not have any federal tax withheld from his paycheck until the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) mandated that his employer begin withholding in January 2013. DOJ

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