Georgia Tax Return Preparer Pleads Guilty to Refund Fraud

An Atlanta, Georgia, based tax return preparer pleaded guilty today to one count of wire fraud, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo, head of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney John A. Horn for the Northern District of Georgia.

According to court documents, Cheryl Singleton, 29, owned and operated Advanced Tax Services, a tax preparation business with multiple locations throughout the Atlanta area.  From 2012 through 2015, Singleton and her employees filed false tax returns that fraudulently inflated clients’ refunds.  In addition, Singleton and her employees falsely advised individuals that they could qualify for a $1,000 government stimulus payment.  Singleton and others used these individuals’ personal identification information to electronically file false income tax returns in those individuals’ names, without their knowledge or consent.  Court documents further allege that Singleton used healthcare financing credit cards held in the names of other individuals to fraudulently obtain payment for cosmetic dental care services.

Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 12.  Singleton faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a term of supervised release and monetary penalties. 

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Horn commended special agents of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case and Trial Attorney Melanie Smith of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Samir Kaushal of the Northern District of Georgia, who are prosecuting this case.