A local tax preparation business owner was sentenced this past week for preparing 350 false tax returns this year, last year and in 2015.
56-year-old Deborah L. Richards had previously pleaded guilty to three counts of filing false returns. She was sentenced to 4 years in prison by US District Judge Richard Young.
Richards worked for Desirable Tax Services in Washington in 2015 and established Terry’s Tax Service in Vincennes and worked for clients there in 2016 and this year.
US Attorney Josh Minkler said Richards claimed false education credits, false American Opportunity credits, and false itemized deductions to inflate refunds due to her clients. He says she also provided altered copies of the tax returns to her clients which were different from the tax returns she filed with the IRS. Minkler went on to say Richards then charged increased fees for her work earning over a quarter million dollars in the false tax preparation. Prosecutors say her actions resulted in a loss of over $550,000 to the IRS and American taxpayers. She was ordered to pay that in restitution in addition to her 4 year prison sentence.
