“Ghost” Tax Preparer Is Sentenced To Prison

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Tijan Mboob, a/k/a “TJ,” a/k/a “Teejay McBoob,” a/k/a “Sheikhtijan,” 59, of Charlotte, was sentenced today to 24 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release for tax fraud, announced Dena J. King U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

Donald “Trey” Eakins, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI), Charlotte Field Office, joins U.S. Attorney King in making today’s announcement.

According to filed court documents and court proceedings, from 2014 to 2021, Mboob prepared or caused to be prepared hundreds of fraudulent tax returns for clients, that were submitted to the IRS. The tax returns included fabricated and fraudulent items, including false filing status, false American Opportunity and education credits, false itemized deductions, and false reforestation credits, among others. Mboob’s inclusion of the fabricated and fraudulent items resulted in the reduction of his clients’ tax liabilities and inflated refunds totaling more than $4.7 million. Court records show that after Mboob prepared the fraudulent returns, he refused to assist clients who received correspondence from the IRS questioning items on their tax returns that Mboob had prepared and filed.

According to court records, Mboob operated as a “ghost” preparer, because contrary to IRS requirements he failed to identify himself as a paid tax preparer on the tax returns he prepared or submitted for his clients. Court documents further show that Mboob failed to report any of the preparation fees he earned as income for tax years 2017 and 2020, and did not file any tax returns for tax years 2018 and 2019.

On September 21, 2023, Mboob pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting in the preparation and filing of false tax returns. Mboob will be ordered to report to the federal Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his sentence upon designation of a federal facility.

In making today’s announcement U.S. Attorney King thanked IRS-CI for their investigation of the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cassye Cole and Graham Billings of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte are prosecuting the case.

The IRS’s annual Dirty Dozen Tax Scams campaign lists the worst of the worst tax schemes that taxpayers may encounter and typically peak during filing season. To learn more about the Dirty Dozen scams and for help with recognizing and avoiding abusive tax schemes, the IRS offers educational material at IRS.gov. Suspected tax fraud can be reported to the IRS using Form 3949-A found on the IRS.gov website. If you have been financially impacted by a tax preparer’s misconduct or improper tax preparation practices you can file a complaint here.