With tax season in full swing, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) urges U.S. taxpayers and return preparers to be on the lookout for fraud schemes that could compromise their bank accounts and personal information, as well as the U.S. tax system.
Current fraud schemes include:
- Criminals creating fictitious estates and trusts to generate fraudulent refunds.
- New client scams where cyber criminals impersonate new, potential clients to trick tax preparers into responding to their emails. Once the preparer responds, the scammer sends a malicious attachment or URL that can compromise the preparer's computer systems and allow the attacker to access sensitive client information.
- Tax schemes, some on social media, that encourage taxpayers to file fraudulent returns featuring inaccurate income, false withholdings or fake credits. Taxpayers are ultimately responsible for ensuring that information is accurate on their tax returns.
U.S. taxpayers should:
- Protect their wallets and their identities by ensuring they don’t respond to unsolicited emails, phone calls or texts claiming to be the IRS.
- Choose reputable tax return preparers who sign and enter their preparer tax identification number (PTIN) on tax forms and don’t promise excessive refunds.
- Rely on IRS.gov for answers to questions about tax forms and eligibility for credits and deductions.
IRS-CI dedicates nearly 70% of its time and resources to investigating tax crimes that include questionable refund schemes, return preparer fraud, abusive tax schemes, and more. In fiscal year 2024, IRS-CI initiated 1,373 tax crime investigations and identified $2.12 billion in tax fraud. Six hundred fifteen defendants were sentenced to an average of 27 months in prison for tax crimes during this same timeframe.
During FY25, the IRS-CI Atlanta Field Office, which covers the states of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi, has assisted in the criminal conviction of tax preparers for submitting false returns.
Alabama
In January, Natoshia Crawford was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $464,866 in restitution for making false tax returns and assisting in the filing of false tax returns. From 2018 through 2022, Crawford owned and operated On Time Professional Tax Service, LLC, in Montgomery, Alabama. Crawford prepared and filed federal income tax returns for clients where she included false information in tax returns filed on behalf of herself and others. Doing so caused Crawford and some of her clients to receive greater refunds than they were entitled to receive. Crawford was ordered to pay $464,866 in restitution.
In January, Cynthia Price was sentenced to 24 months in prison for making false tax returns and assisting in the filing of false tax returns. In addition to the sentence, Price was fined $15,000 and ordered to pay $206,573 restitution. From 2017 through 2022, Price prepared federal income tax returns for others at No Limit Tax Pro in Montgomery, Alabama. In her plea agreement, Price admitted that she included false information in numerous tax returns filed on behalf of herself and others. Doing so caused Price and some of her clients to receive greater refunds than they were entitled to receive.
Georgia
In October, Portia Jones, received a sentence of four years’ probation and ordered to pay restitution of $7,988 for assisting in the preparation and filing of a false federal tax return. From 2015 through 2018, Jones ran a business named Just the 2 of Us Financial Solutions out of Marietta, Georgia. Jones prepared and filed these tax returns, and without their knowledge, entered false information for the purpose of receiving a greater tax return than her clients would otherwise be entitled to.
Dianne Thompson was sentenced in December to one year probation and ordered to pay restitution of $225,203 for willfully assisting in the presentation of a fraudulent tax return to the Internal Revenue Service.
Mississippi
In January, Slexica Neal received an 18-month sentence for three counts of filing fraudulent tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service. Neal was ordered to pay more than $1,960,000 in restitution to the IRS. As an owner of two tax businesses, Neal submitted fraudulent tax returns, which lowered the taxpayer’s income and ultimately increased the refund they received from the IRS.
