Mississippi Return Preparer Pleads Guilty to Filing False Tax Returns

A Macon, Mississippi, tax return preparer pleaded guilty yesterday to aiding and assisting in the preparation and filing of a false tax return, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst of the Southern District of Mississippi. 

According to documents and information provided to the court, from approximately January 2012 through April 2016, Shelleen Ivory-Farmer managed ABS Tax Services, a tax preparation business in Macon, Mississippi. Through the firm, Ivory-Farmer falsified clients’ tax returns by claiming false education credits, itemized deductions, and business and farming losses to fraudulently increase client refunds. The tax loss resulting from the false education credits was more than $870,000 and the total tax loss Ivory-Farmer caused was more than $1.1 million.

Ivory-Farmer faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison, a period of supervised release and monetary penalties. In addition, Ivory-Farmer agreed to pay $236,887 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Hurst thanked agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Helen Wall and Trial Attorney William Montague of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.