Greenville Tax Preparer Sentenced To 90 Months In Prison For Tax Fraud Conspiracy And Aggravated Identity Theft

WILMINGTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina announced that yesterday, February 25, 2016, Senior United States District James C. Fox entered judgment against TONYA MARIE BATTLE, 37, of Greenville, North Carolina, sentencing her to serve a total of 90 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release, on charges of Aggravated Identity Theft and Conspiracy to Defraud the United States on Claims.  BATTLE was also ordered to make restitution of $1,635,515 to the Internal Revenue Service.

The investigation showed that BATTLE, with the assistance of others, devised a scheme to file fraudulent personal income tax returns with the IRS. BATTLE and those working at her direction, recruited individuals to participate in the scheme and offered those individuals significant refunds through the use of their name and identifying information.

In January, 2011, BATTLE opened TBS Tax Service in Greenville, North Carolina, and filed returns using an Electronic Filing Identification Number (EFIN).  BATTLE also established a business account with Drake Software and purchased their products to electronically prepare and e-file income tax forms. BATTLE also established an account with EPS Financial Services to print refund checks in her office.

BATTLE used the personal information of TBS Tax Service’s clients to create and e-file false Form 1040s. Once the returns were accepted and funded by the IRS, BATTLE printed refund checks in her office.  BATTLE then contacted clients and informed them their checks were available. BATTLE had several office assistants, one of whom was a “strongman”, who escorted clients to a nearby check cashing service in Greenville. BATTLE instructed office assistants to take a portion of most checks as additional fees and return the cash to BATTLE.  Some clients had refund checks of as much as $6,000, of which BATTLE would collect the majority.

To carry out the scheme, BATTLE created and used at least 14 fictitious companies. BATTLE applied for Employer Identification Numbers (EINs) through the IRS website for each company, and then provided false names, addresses, and employees for each business. BATTLE then created fictitious Form 1099s for the TBS Tax Service clients using the IRS website to make it appear as though the TBS Tax Service clients had income from the fake companies. 

To carry out the scheme BATTLE also utilized a list of dependents, consisting of the names and social security numbers of various children. BATTLE added various dependents’ names to TBX Tax Service client Form 1040s to maximize profits under the scheme.

The investigation established that between January, 2011, and April, 2012, BATTLE filed, or caused to be electronically filed, 366 fraudulent returns with the IRS, which resulted in a loss of $1,635,515 to the government.

On July 13, 2015, BATTLE pleaded guilty to Counts One and 35 of the Indictment, which charged her, respectively, with Conspiracy to Defraud the United States on Claims, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 286; and Aggravated Identity Theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A.

Investigation of BATTLE’s case was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney William M. Gilmore represented the United States.